


Time Together

by imperialMachine



Category: Solar Opposites
Genre: Attempted Sexual Assault, First Time Sex, Forced Drug Use, Jealousy, M/M, Murder, Near Death Experiences, New experience, Other, Outer Space, Plant Biology, Plant stuff, Pre-Canon, Slow Burn, alcohol use, defect, reproduction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:34:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 22,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25318384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imperialMachine/pseuds/imperialMachine
Summary: Terry and Korvo go through a learning experience together through space and on Earth. They get to know each other and start growing closer.
Relationships: Korvotron "Korvo"/Terry (Solar Opposites)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 52





	1. Chapter 1

Terry sat in the desk dozing off while the elder tree teaches the class about pupa anatomy. The only reason he took these lessons was because he found it to be his only way out of this strict totalitarian place, beside the other option, which was death. Lucky for him, he cheated his way to becoming an expert thanks to Terri. 

However, Terry wasn’t always the luckiest with the other shlorpians because they didn’t like how different he was from them. He didn’t give in to conformity like he should. If anything, all his friends, or the people who were once his friends, distanced themselves from Terry. Not long after Terri left him too. They should’ve picked a better date than the day of his evacuation. Though this didn’t surprise Terry, he knew that eventually people would leave because they couldn’t accept him for who he was. And also, he was never going to see them again. Sure, Shlorp was the homeworld but it was never a home. 

When Terry met his evacuation partner, Korvo. He was excited because they were actually going to leave home, and he’s not going to do it alone. They’ve messaged back and forth a few times before actually meeting in person. Korvo was a bit boring for Terry but at least he’s smart and he would do all the work for the ship. The same day Terry met his partner, he also met his replicant. They were left with only numbers as their name. Terry was afraid that his replicant would become like the rest of the shlorpians, blinded by their government and lacking any sense of self, but no, they were different, like him. Though, they looked like they could blend in perfectly because they weren’t so open about their opinions, unlike Terry. Terry was proud that his replicant shared the same kind of curiosity about the outside world like him.

Two months into their travels through space, Terry got to know his partner a bit more and found him intriguing, but still boring. He has the same goals as any other shlorpian but he’s not as emotionless as the others. He dressed and acted like them but he was more emotional and passionate, a trait which the others lacked. Terry often watched Korvo mumble to himself about manuals while trying to make guns and add-ons to the ship. Shlorp was so dull that they didn’t supply them with any weapons because the mission was to land on an unpopulated planet and terraform it. Before leaving Shlorp, Terry saw Korvo smuggling in all sorts of crystals from the homeworld and he told Terry not to tell anyone. Terry didn’t know that these crystals were so powerful and thought they were just mere designs. Korvo confessed to Terry that he took the manuals from one of his higher colleagues that made ray guns and decided to make his own.

“I know it’s wrong but the planet’s going to die anyways. And he was going to be left behind, I couldn’t just let this information go to waste.” Korvo explained, trying to make himself feel less shitty about theft. 

Terry was impressed with his partner. Someone as lame as him was able to pull a stunt like that, even Terry wouldn’t resort to stealing. “Well, the planet did blow up. So, you can’t get arrested.”

Terry got to know more about Korvo’s replicant too. Yumyulack was different from Korvo, even his skin is a bit off, but it was clear that he was Korvo’s. Instead of being a full fledged scientist and devoting himself to the seed of knowledge, Yumyulack was a bounty hunter in training. Just as he was about to graduate and become a licensed bounty hunter, he was forced to leave. With not much to do on their ship, Yumyulack would study science under Korvo. Yumyulack was too obedient for Terry’s liking, which wasn’t his fault. Their society made him that way. But apparently intellect and rebelliousness ran in his genes. Yumyulack once shared a story from when he was in the academy, he would pull pranks and no one would know it was him. Terry took note of how calm Yumyulack was compared to his parent, who would fret over the smallest things. Regardless, he wasn’t a bad kid. 

During their travels, the plant aliens were supposed to sleep in their chambers but Korvo would often stay awake, working himself to exhaustion. Terry noticed this right away, the replicants noticed too but never questioned why Korvo would do this. Terry, not wanting to be alone in the adult chambers, would stay with his partner and watched him work. It’s not like there’s anything better to do on the ship. Shlorp wasn’t big on entertainment. There were no actors or movies or shows that spark a moderate interest of fantasy or simple imagination. There were just reruns of the history of Shlorp and how great they are. 

When it was time to sleep, Terry would remind his partner that they should head off to bed together. Again Korvo would reject him and continue working. Terry could never keep up with him. Though it was a win for both partners, Terry gets to do nothing and Korvo gets to work all he wants, but he couldn’t help feeling bored and guilty. They were supposed to be partners, both were supposed to be doing equal work.

And there was nothing new here, even the stars look the same from this ship.

“Korvo?” Terry called while gazing at the distant pockets of light in the darkness of space. His partner made a sound, acknowledging him. “Why do you work so hard?”

Korvo stayed silent, thinking of a response. “Someone has to.”

Terry felt a twinge in his chest. He had been slacking off ever since they left the homeworld and hasn’t been doing anything to contribute to their adventure. But he also realized that Korvo must’ve felt alone if he feels he needs to work so hard just to make weapons that they probably don’t need. 

“This could all be avoided if the government made some sort of machine that’ll destroy the meteor, or— or something!” Korvo begins to open up. “Nobody needed to die, but that’s just how we are. We suck the planet dry and meet our inevitable deaths. Sometimes, I think someone might be taking us out so we don’t overpopulate. Bigger numbers means more people can defy their leaders.”

This hit hard for Terry. He thought his opinions were controversial, but this guy is on a different level. Could it be true though? Could their government want to kill their own people just to keep them in line? If there’s nothing left, what do you do with the waste? Simply get rid of it, and killing a whole species of aliens and leaving 400 of them to venture out into space to either die or terraform a celestial object just to restart the process all over again was a bonus. The plant aliens will be born again on the newly terraformed planet and start their reign. Terry doesn’t know what to say. And Korvo blames himself for this, for something he can’t control. 

“I just… I miss home.” Korvo says quietly to himself, but Terry hears him. 

Home. Something Terry never had. He wonders what it would be like to miss home. His home was unwelcoming and indifferent towards his feelings. He can't possibly miss something that hates him.

He hears the screwing of metal continue after their moment of silence. This was the first time Korvo ever opened up about something. Terry was just starting to think Korvo was a robot. He wished he was like Korvo, loyal to Shlorp and critical of their ways. He can’t tell him that he doesn’t miss Shlorp, it’ll make him sad. If anything, he’ll probably die from lack of sleep. 

Terry gets up from the seat and goes over to his partner. He kneels in front of him, placing a hand on Korvo’s who was currently trying to twist in a screw. He stops but doesn’t look up. 

“You need some sleep,” Terry says, softly. “You were putting on the wrong sized screw.”

Terry pulled his hand away and stood up. Korvo looked at the piece of metal in his hand. He was right. The screw was too big to in fit the hole of the ray gun. Korvo hasn’t noticed this. He sighs. “Perhaps, you’re right.”

Terry holds out his hand for the blue alien to take, and he does. Terry sees the bags under his eyes. Korvo doesn’t let go of Terry’s hand as he guides him to their chambers. Korvo sits down on the cushion, looking at his shoes. Terry goes to the other side of the room where his bed is and takes his shoes off. He winches at the coldness of the floor and makes a "bleh" noise because of the metallic taste of metal. Terry unzips his robe and lays in the bed, crossing his leg over the other and tucking his hands behind his head. 

Korvo doesn’t bother disrobing or taking his shoes off. He looks over at his partner, realizing he has bags under his eyes too. He wondered if Terry had been awake with him this whole time. A sigh escapes him as he lays in bed, staring up at the metal ceiling. “Thanks for keeping me company, Terry. And I’m sorry that I kept you up so late.”

He turned to Terry who was facing the wall. He must be asleep, Korvo thought. He turned to face his wall and closed his eyes. It took a few seconds until he was fast asleep. Though he didn’t know that Terry hadn’t fallen asleep yet. 


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Terry tended to the pupa who was doing well, or so he thinks. The pupa had been sluggish lately. He hopes it wasn’t from neglect or anything like that. Truth be told, Terry hasn’t been doing a good job at caring for the pupa. He doesn’t even know the most basic thing about it, like putting it in an incubator to warm it up.

“Hey, Korv, can you help me?” He says, holding the pupa in his arms while it’s looking a bit blue. 

Korvo zoned out as Terry tried to explain the problem with the pupa, but all he had on his mind was Terry calling him Korv. No one’s ever given him a nickname before, well, a nickname that wasn’t assigned for himself. Was this what friendship was like? Korvo never had friends, they were all work colleagues who weren’t too involved with his personal life. None of them were close enough to bother with a nickname. Things are different now, since—

“Korvo?” Terry called. 

He blinks, bringing him back to the present. “Y— yeah?”

“Do you know what to do about the pupa?” Terry pats the pupa's back.

“The pupa, right? What’s wrong with it?” Korvo asked.

“You didn’t hear me while I was explaining it?” He begins to smile. “Were you distracted?”

“Wh— no!”

“That’s a first! The guy who’s super focused gets distracted?” Terry laughs, wholeheartedly. 

“Just tell me what’s wrong with the pupa, Terry!” 

“Okay, okay! It’s turning blue.” He holds it up to Korvo’s face. Korvo grabs the pupa from Terry. 

“It’s cold. It’s supposed to be warm! Terry, what did you do?” Korvo unzips his robe and holds the pupa to his chest to try to use his body heat to warm it up. 

“Nothing!” He puts his hands up in defense. 

“What do you mean nothing? You’re supposed to take care of it!” He carried the pupa to the heat room. “Dammit, Terry!” 

The green alien follows Korvo to the heat room. “I’m sorry, Korvo.” 

Korvo doesn’t respond. He takes his robe off, leaving his turtleneck shirt on. While keeping the pupa on his shoulder, Korvo rolled up his sleeves and pressed the thermometer to be about 70 degrees, then goes over to grab the remote to the chamber.

“Korv—” Before Terry could call him, he enters the chamber and shuts the door behind him. Korvo holds the pupa in his arms as he takes a seat on the floor. The super computer was still cold and blue. 

“Fuck.” Korvo cursed. Suddenly, he hears the intercom turning on. 

“Korvo?” His partner called through the speaker. “Hey, I’m really sorry.”

“Stop that! Stop apologizing!” Korvo yelled, “if you were doing your job this wouldn’t have happened.”

His words were like stabs to his chest. He was right, but he didn’t have to be so mean about it. 

“And now I have to take care of the pupa as well because of your incompetence.” Korvo continued to berate him. 

Terry groaned from how harsh Korvo was being. It was uncalled for for him to be so mean just because he fucked up once. Terry, being fed up, turns off the intercom and joins Korvo in the heat room then closes the door behind him. 

“What?” Korvo narrowed his eyes at the green alien. 

He sits down in front of him and crosses his arms. “Gimme the pupa.” Terry narrowed his eyes back at Korvo.

“No, you don’t even know what you’re doing.” Korvo argued.

“Yeah? Well, neither do you.”

“Fuck you, Terry!” Terry threw himself at his partner, causing him to drop the pupa on the floor. They both wrestled each other and accidentally pushed the remote to increase the heat of the room by 30 degrees. 

They both began to sweat as the room grew increasingly hot. They both threw a punch at each other, giving the other a bruised eye. It was when the pupa started crying that they stopped trying to kill each other. Korvo ran over to the little yellow thing, picking it up and seeing as the color returned back to normal. Once they leave the heat room, the heat shuts off automatically.

Terry wanted to apologize again but remembered that Korvo doesn’t want an apology, he wants change. It was too late now because they’re not on Shlorp anymore, and Terry didn’t bother to bring his notes or keep the ones that Terri took for him. While spending 2 hours wandering through the ship, Terry finds himself in his shared room and, surely enough, Korvo was there. He was in his bed, leaning against the wall while holding the pupa and a closed book next to him. Taking a closer look, Terry realized Korvo was asleep. He sees that Korvo’s bruised eye already healed up perfectly. Terry touches his own, finding that his bruise was gone as well. Thank god for their rapid regenerative alien body. If the replicants see their injuries, they would freak out. 

The pupa began cooing at Terry, wiggling his hand out to him to be carried. He tries to shoosh the pupa, but it ends up waking up his partner. “Terry?” Korvo rubs the sleep from his eyes, trying to focus them at the figure standing in front of him.

“Korv, I think it’s my turn with the pupa.” And surely enough, Korvo lets him take the pupa from his arms. “Seems to me like you were slacking off.” He teased, which woke him up. 

“You don’t know how to take care of the pupa.” Korvo says, turning over and having his legs dangle over the edge of his resting area. 

“I know, but we’re partners, Korvo. You can’t do everything by yourself, you have me.” Terry looks Korvo in the eyes, realizing what he just said, he adds, “and the replicants too.” 

Breaking eye contact, Korvo fidgets with his gem placed on his robe. He felt touched by Terry's statement. Up until their mission, Korvo had to do everything by himself because it felt safer to only rely on himself. Things are different now, he has a partner, which was something he hated doing, especially during school. Now it's permanent until they restore their planet. And fighting only makes things worse for everyone. “I suppose you’re right.” He gets up and pats Terry on the shoulder. Despite having slept more, Korvo still has those bags under his eyes. Terry smiles as Korvo leaves him in their room. 

“Korvo!” Yumyulack called while holding his arm, er, holding what should be his arm. 

“What the hell happened?” Korvo asked, examining Yumyulack's wound.

“I accidentally cut my arm off while playing with one of the ray guns.” Yumyulack explained. 

Korvo brings Yumyulack to the healing room, which is a room that has medical supplies. He sits Yumyulack down on the chair and wipes the blood from his stub. The skin is slowly becoming purple. 

“Shit, you cut yourself with the poison ray gun?”

“It looked cool, I didn’t know it was poison.” Yumyulack shrugged while Korvo rummaged through the medical supply and finds the antidote. He injected the cure into his stub which caused his replicant to flinch in pain. 

Korvo mumbled a “sorry” for the pain he caused. He placed the needle in the trash and took out the nutrient spray, spraying it on the wound. Within seconds the blue blood begins to crust and his stub turns into a darker shade of blue. “Make sure to continuously spray your stubs until your arm grows back.” 

“Thanks, Korvo.” He gets up, but Korvo grabs his arm before he goes. 

“Be careful next time, okay?” Korvo says, gently.

“I’ll try to.” He lets go of his arm, and Yumyulack leaves the healing chamber. 

“Oh my gosh, Yumyulack! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Terry’s replicant looks at Yumyulack arm, seeing as it’s not bleeding anymore. “You’re okay.”

“Yeah, Korvo helped me. He also said to be careful with the guns.” He walks to his room as the replicant follows. 

“Hey, you didn’t tell, did you?” 

“That’s what you’re worried about?” He asks, chuckling a bit. 

“Part of it, yeah.” They follow Yumyulack into their shared room.

“No, I didn’t tell. It was just an accident.” Yumyulack tossed the spray on his bed and sat in the chair beside his desk. “Kinda sucks, now that I have only one hand to work on my own projects.” 


	3. Chapter 3

Terry, without having much to do, read through some manuals and he comes across a section of reproduction. This brought back memories for Terry: him being in class when he was only a few 200 years old, a bit older than the replicants but still a teen. The elder tree was teaching them about reproduction for the species and that when time comes they’d have to contribute. During Terry’s younger years, he didn’t like the idea of having to make another him. The idea of sharing something, like DNA, with someone was weird to him, and he didn’t understand why adults had made replicants of their own.

When Terry got older, he came to understand that it was crucial to their species. Mostly to get more shlorpians to work, but there was another important reason. In order to venture out into space, a shlorpian is required to make a replicant. Their special soil used to create replicants is only available on their home planet, or in this case, inside the DNA of the pupa. 

Reproduction seemed like a scary thing in the texts because it required the volunteer to cut off a part of the body and have a botanist plant the piece in special soil. Terry wasn’t a big fan of pain. The bigger the cut piece is, the more the replicants would spawn. Not all replicants would make it because not everyone is healthy. Terry, however, was lucky to be healthy. At the time of reproduction season, he gave only a fingertip to the botanist. 

He asked if he was sure that’s how much he wants to offer. Terry hesitated. If the seedling doesn’t grow in time for the evacuation, he’ll have to stay, but there’s a chance that he might end up leaving with more than one replicant, which isn't allowed for evac. If there was anything that Terry knew about the evacuation, it was that there wouldn’t be a caregiver on the ship. He’d have to care for his replicant, something he wouldn’t know how to do because he wasn’t cared for by his own donor. Nobody is cared for by their source, which made it feel like a truly lonely society. There was no belonging, just existing for a bigger picture. 

Terry said he was sure about just giving a finger tip. He hoped he was healthy enough to grow a replicant. 

He had overheard a classmate talking about reproducing with another shlorpian, which wasn’t impossible but no one ever really engaged in it. Terry didn’t know there was a possibility. Before finding out more, the classmate never showed up to class again. 

Terry relaxed with his legs crossed over the table, eating a sweet fruit while flipping through the pages of the reproduction section. “Korvo, do you know about sexual reproduction?” he asks, absentmindedly 

Korvo's face felt hot as he stopped what he was doing completely and snapped his head at his partner. “W— what about it?” He stutters. 

“I don’t know, I thought maybe you’d know something about it.”

“Well, the academy was very vague about reproducing sexually. Mostly because it’s forbidden.”

“What?” He put down his fruit on the table. “I don’t remember the elder tree telling us that.”

“It was the first thing they taught us in reproduction 101! The elder tree specifically said, ‘don’t attempt to reproduce with anyone.’ Weren’t you paying attention in that class?” Korvo asked while using alien blowtorch tech to melt pieces of metal together. 

“No, I was busy checking out hot people and dating them.” Terry says, looking at the pictures of shlorp physiology. 

“If that’s the case, I’m surprised you haven’t made any progeny with anyone.”

“Hey!” He snaps the book shut and slamming it on the table, making Korvo flinch at the loud sound. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means what you want it to.” Korvo holds his hand steady so as to not burn himself with the torch. 

Terry gets up and grabs Korvo by the shoulder, pulling him. The sudden movement caused Korvo’s grip on the torch to move towards his other hand. He screams as the fire burns his skin, making it catch on fire. “Oh my gosh, Korvo!”

“Terry, the ice ray! S-shoot it with the ice ray!” 

Terry hurries to the cabinet where the ray guns are and shoots Korvo’s arm until it becomes encased with a thick block of ice. Korvo falls down to his knees as tears are welling in his eyes. Terry wraps Korvo’s free arm around his shoulder and takes him to the healing chamber. 

Seating him down, Korvo hissed as he placed his frozen arm on the table. “Get some rags and— and, oh god, this hurts. Get the saw. It’s in the tool drawer… in the room with the quantum injector.”

“Okay, okay. Rags, saw, got it.” Terry speeds down the hall of the ship to fetch the necessities for him. 

Korvo grabs a rubber rope and uses his free hand to tie it tightly around his frozen arm. He pats himself on the back for making the freeze ray first. He would have made a water ray but the water supply was becoming limited. Korvo hadn’t made self replicating device for the particles yet because if he did, they’d need to land, and so far, the computer hasn’t detected any harmless planets yet.

Within a few minutes, Terry comes barging through the door with several rags and a saw. “Okay, good.” Korvo grabs two rags. “Now sterilize it and cut off my arm.”

“What?” Terry yells. “I can’t do something like that!”

“What do you mean? It’s super easy, even the pupa can do it.”

“I mean I can go get it if-” Terry pointed to the door. 

“No! I’m not trying to traumatize the super computer. Look, Terry, the saw is really sharp. If it can cut through metal like butter, then it’ll go through my arm with ease. Think of it as cutting air.” Korvo's words of comfort only made Terry even more anxious. He started to doubt his own skill, thinking he might hit a nerve that stops Korvo from regenerating. “Now sterilize it.”

Despite his doubts, he trusts Korvo more than himself. Terry soaks the saw with the anti-bacteria stuff. His blue partner shoves the rags in his mouth to avoid breaking any of his poison teeth. He wants to save it for a real dangerous situation. Korvo gives Terry an approving nod before he saws Korvo’s arm off. He cries into the rag, digging his teeth into the cloth and grabs the anti-bacteria stuff and pours it on his wound. He stumbles to get the rapid healing gel, remembering that Yumyulack still has the nutrient spray.

Terry gets up to put the saw in the medical sink and goes to sit on the chair in front of Korvo. “I’m sorry.” He hangs his head feeling culpable for hurting him and having to amputate his arm.

While rubbing the gel on his arm, Korvo’s wound ceased to bleed. “You know, sexual reproduction causes both partners to physically grow offsprings from their bodies. Kinda like fungi.” He explains as Terry listens. This was his way of saying sorry, by supplying Terry with information of his interests. “But the offspring would have to get cut off and planted, most of the time they don’t make it because the parent’s nutrients supply them for optimal survival. Parents often become attached to their young and refuse to give them up. They'd often find themselves in prison.”

“Have there been an offspring that was successful?” 

“Some are, but they were left mostly weak. Being attached to the parent makes them dependent on them. They grow to have weak genes and are, for the most part, left unhealthy throughout their life. Reproduction becomes harder than the standard shlorpian, if not impossible.”

Terry thought about his classmate that sexually reproduced, and now he knows what happened to them. They must've grown attached. It all made sense. The process sounds gross but it was something he never knew of, that he was capable of making something with someone. He wonders what it would be like to be made from two people, what would the offspring look like? His replicant looks exactly like him and Korvo’s looks exactly like Korvo. It was strange that his partner knew about this stuff if it was barely talked about in class. “Korvo, how do you know so much about this?” Terry couldn’t help but ask. 

He didn’t say anything. Instead, he gave Terry a look. For the first time, Terry felt like he could read Korvo’s mind, and he couldn’t believe it.

“You were an offspring.”

Korvo doesn’t say anything, which further confirms Terry’s theory. 

“Oh, my god. Korvo, how come you didn’t say anything about this? Holy shit!” Terry smiles as he take Korvo’s free hand in his. 

“Because it’s not important information, Terry!” He pulled his hand away from Terry.

“Yes it is! What was it like?”

“I don’t know. They took me away from my parent when I was only a bud and planted me in the soil. I was raised like any other shlorpian. Why do you care so much?” Korvo asked.

“I was just curious. It must’ve felt nice to... belong.” Terry avoided looking directly into Korvo’s eyes. 

Korvo sighed from the distinct sadness that Terry was expressing. “They might be blood related, but they’re not family. Hell, I don’t even know these people.”

“But you could’ve had siblings that looked similar to you but not quite. And maybe do family dinners and hang out—”

“Look, if this is some sort of fantasy you’re trying to live through me, it isn’t going to satisfy your needs because life isn’t like that. Do you know how shit it was to have other people judge you just because your parents fucked when they weren’t supposed to? Did your caregiver basically neglect you just because they already lost hope that you'll make it to 100? Did the other shlorpians pretend you didn't exist for the longest time because of something you couldn't control?” Korvo ranted. “I worked hard Terry and I’ll never stop because— because everyone is gonna see just how much of a genius I am, a defect like me!” 

Terry kept quiet while Korvo caught his breath. He didn’t even realize he was standing up. Terry rubbed his arms awkwardly. He had no idea that Korvo was holding all of this back, how it must’ve felt to be burdened by your bloodline. Of course, Terry would never understand, but he wants to be there for Korvo. He’s all he has left, besides the replicants. 

“I don’t think you’re a defect.” Terry stands up too, making eye contact with his partner. “Sure, some of the things you say are boring sometimes, but it’s clear that you’re passionate about what you do.” He places a hand on his shoulder. “If anything, you’re perfect. You’re smart and you never give up, which is something I admire about you.”

Korvo narrowed his eyes, looking from side to side. He’s unsure what to do or say next, no one’s ever been this kind to him. He spent so long keeping this secret that he almost forgot he came from two people. He smiles, thankful for an understanding partner who isn't disgusted by him. “This would be a perfect time for some cliche intimate moment or something.”

Terry laughs. “It really is. Well, I gotta go check on the pupa, make sure it’s not dying or anything.” As Terry heads for the door, he stops at the entrance. “Thanks for trusting me enough to share your past with me.” 

“I should be thanking you for amputating my arm.” Korvo chuckles. “I should probably make a blade that heals every time it cuts something.”


	4. Chapter 4

Terry’s replicant sat in their shared room with Yumyulack, thinking what their new name should be. Yumyulack has a name, but before they were given a name they had to leave. They didn’t even pick a course to study in yet because they were still too young. 

They decided to be unique, like their parent, and pick a weird name. Terry has two syllables. Maybe they should pick something that has two syllables too. The replicant wrote on a piece of paper possible two syllable names that isn’t an alien name. They scratched their head. How did Terry do this? They were sure that Terry picked his own name, or changed it because it’s not a standard name for a shlorpian.

Coming up with an identity was hard. 

Yumyulack looked over their shoulder, seeing all the weird names written down. “What’re you doing?” He asked, taking a seat on their bed. 

“Well, I wasn’t given a name yet so I wanted to pick one.” 

“What’s wrong with Number 31827?”

“That’s Terry’s assigned number, which happens to be mine too. Look, just because I came from Terry doesn’t mean I am him. I want my own name, my own identity, okay?” They explained. “Which is why, I’m gonna make up a two syllable name because Terry has a two syllable name. I figured unique names would have two syllables and it has to be abnormal.”

“You just said you wanted your own identity, and you’re picking a name that’s like Terry’s? Do you realize how dumb you sound?” 

“No, because if Terry can be creative, so can I.” They continued to scribble down names on the paper. 

“Okay, what about… Jesse? It’s two syllables, ends in an ‘e’ sound like Terry’s.” Yumyulack suggested. 

“Oh, my god! Yumyulack that’s perfect!” They hugged their pseudo-sibling. “We should go tell Terry and Korvo.” 

The replicants barged in the main deck of the ship where Terry used the shrink ray on his partner. “Korvo, Terry— what are you guys doing?” Jesse asked. 

“It’s not what it looks like!” Terry yells, putting his hands up.

“We were testing out the shrink ray.” Korvo explains. 

“Ooo! I wanna make a shrink ray!” Yumyulack exclaimed.

Terry goes to take the growth ray and shoots Korvo with it, causing him to grow up to match his heigh height. “Wait, I don’t think this is right.” He blasts Korvo with the shrink ray to return him to being a bit shorter than him. “That’s better.”

“Did you guys need something?” Korvo asked, while taking the guns and putting them in a cabinet.

“No, I just wanted to announce to you that I gave myself a name, you know because the academy didn’t give me one yet.” Jesse explains.

“Cool, what is it?” Terry asked excitedly.

“It’s Jesse.” 

“Jesse… I love it!” Terry pats his replicant on the head. He’s glad that his clone was able to find their own identity by giving themself a name.

“That is a very unique name Jesse.” Korvo complimented. 

“Hey, Korvo?” Yumyulack tugged on his rob. “Could I borrow the growth ray?”

Korvo nodded and Yumyulack opened the cabinet to collect the growth ray. The replicants left to do their own thing.

Once the replicants were in the hallway, Yumyulack shot himself with the growth ray, making him a bit taller. “Hey, look.” He says to Jesse. “I’m taller now.” 

“Oo-ooh! I wanna be tall too!” Jesse jumped in excitement. 

“No way! Only one of us gets to be tall and it’s me. Korvo’s shorter than Terry, so it’s only fair that I get to be tall.” Yumyulack explains as Jesse tries to reach for the ray gun. “What are you doing? Stop it!”

“I wanna be tall too. If we’re both tall then it’s fair!” Jesse scrambled to get the gun from Yumyulack’s hand while he tolds it away from them.

“No, it isn’t! Did you not hear me?” Jesse jumps, smacking the gun from Yumyulack’s hand and it falls on the floor, shattering into bits. 

“Oh no!” Jesse cried.

“Wow, didn’t think it would break that easily.”

“W— what are we gonna do, Yumyulack?”

“Easy, we don’t tell Terry and Korvo and fix the gun ourselves.” He reaches down to pick up the pieces.

“But I don’t know how to make a ray gun, let alone fix one.” Jesse helped him pick up the gun bits.

“By ‘we’, I meant me.” He says, “Don’t worry so much, you’re gonna start gooblering. I’ve been reading the manuals and studying the book. How hard is it to repair a gun?”

They headed back to their room after collecting the pieces of the growth ray and ready to repair it with ease. 

* * *

Korvo buried his face in the manuals since his arm hasn’t fully grown since the last incident where Terry cut it off with a saw. Working with one arm is just as difficult because delicate touches are essential to some machinery, and using his feet and legs to hold something won’t cut it. He could ask Terry for help, but he has doubts that he’ll do them correctly. Terry isn’t an engineer, he’s a biologist, a shitty one but at least he takes care of the pupa and of him. 

Ever since Korvo found out that Terry stays up late with him while he does some engineer work, he made sure to get some rest just so Terry could sleep too. This made Korvo’s mind more awake. He hadn’t realized how much stress he was putting on himself, especially since he’d stay in one position for hours working on something. This caused a strain on his shoulders and legs. 

Korvo noticed how Terry was actually taking care of the pupa, like feeding it the nutrients that were supplied and putting it in the incubator when it needs warmth. Though he doesn’t know what he’s doing, at least he’s trying, which matters more to Korvo.

Lately, Korvo’s been realizing that his partner has been leaving to their room early. In the beginning, he thought it was because he was simply tired, but this was different. They both get the same amount of sleep everyday and Korvo feels fine. 

He stops working on the healing blades to check up on Terry. He finds him curled up in multiple blankets. Korvo walks over to see Terry steaming profusely. He touches the alien’s head and he’s burning up. “Holy shit.”

Korvo leaves the room and goes down into the supply room to find if there’s any water. And surprise, there isn’t any. They used it all up. Korvo curses to himself. He runs to the main deck of the ship, desperate times call for desperate means. He uses the computer to search for the closest solar system in the galaxy. Once Aisha found one, he went over to the ship command station and pinpointed the location given by Aisha. 

The replicants feeling the ship shift, they ran to the ship’s main deck. “What’s happening?”

“We don’t have water, so we're looking for some.” Korvo pressed some buttons so that it’ll make the ship go faster. “Quick, go g-get Terry and put him in a chair.” He tells the replicants and they run to find Terry in his room, pale and dehydrated. 

They both picked up the elder and rushed to the front of the ship. Once they were there, they strapped him in the seat behind the pilot's.

Yumyulack took the second-in-command seat next to Korvo.

“Hey, why do you get shotgun?” Jesse asked. 

“Because I’m taller now, and I know some things about ship stuff.” He says, buckling himself in. 

Jesse groans and buckles themselves in their own seat. A bunch of panel buttons slide out of the chair as Jesse presses them. It was to ensure that if the leading pilot is down, they’d be the plan B for guiding the ship since they can’t get out of their seats once they fly super fast through space. 

Once they’re ready, Korvo presses the launch button and they blast through space to the location that he pinpointed. He just hopes that they'll make it in time before Terry dies from dehydration. Within a few hours, the ship stops by a moon that has detectable water. Korvo landed the ship on the moon and got up from his seat. “You two stay on the ship while I go get us some water. It won’t be long but if I don’t come back in an hour, leave the moon and find a planet with water to land on.”

The thought of leaving Korvo behind made Yumyulack sick to his stomach. “But—”

“We can’t just leave you here.” Jesse says, distress in their voice.

“Just do what I say!” Korvo yells, not meaning to sound harsh. “I can’t risk you two getting hurt by whatever creatures are out here.”

They watched as Korvo prepared a suit to wear out in this barren plane. He took his robe off and zipped the suit onto his body. Korvo brings a bucket and a pocket sized quantum microscope with him. The replicants followed him to the exit door. They watched from the second door when he leaves the ship. 

Korvo walked for a few minutes and avoided looking at the rays of the distant sun. In a cave somewhere, he found some water. Using his quantum microscope, he checked to see if it was water without any other compounds. He knew the life on this planet was dead because there were no living organisms. Either they were dead or they were frozen by the coldness of space. He knew Terry would like something like this. He’s all about adventure after all. Regardless, Korvo collected the water and hurried back to the ship in less than an hour.

The replicants saw him from the small circular window and opened the first door to let him in. Korvo set the bucket on the floor as the ship sprayed him with anti-bacteria stuff. It got in the bucket of water, killing any unwanted bacteria and turning it to just pure water without any of the infestation from this moon’s filth.

He takes off the suit and puts it in a suction trash. “I’ll get the suit cleaned for reuse, Korvo.” Aisha says through the intercom.

The second door opens as Korvo picks up the bucket and brings it inside the ship. He goes to the supply room and the replicants follow him down there. He pours the water in the filter and it cleans the water from any other stuff that was still stuck in there. 

Suddenly they feel a rumble on the floor of the ship. “What the hell was that?” Yumyulack panicked. 

Soon the whole ship began to shake. Korvo runs to the main deck and turns on all the cameras on the ship. Underneath was this moon’s inhabitants. “Fuck,” he curses. “The heat of the ship must’ve melted the alien that was frozen and now it’s gonna attack us.” 

“What do we do?” Jesse asked with their hands on their head. 

“Obviously, we’re leaving!” Korvo sat in the main chair and the replicants did the same. As he prepared the ship for take off, the alien outside the ship grabbed it and flung it away from the moon. The ship began to spin uncontrollably until Korvo turned on the boosts to stop it from spinning any further. He sees the alien on the moon began to freeze in place again. It must’ve been some giant tentacle monster that thrived off of the cold. It was a shame that he couldn’t stay longer to study this specimen. 

Luckily the alien didn’t break anything of the ship. Once they flew a decent distance away from the solar system, Korvo went to check on Terry who was still passed out. He tells the replicants to go to their rooms while he tries to help Terry. 

“Okay,“ Yumyulack complies, “But if you need us, we’re one yell away.”

Korvo hooks the water supply to the water system on the ship. He also hooks up the device that causes the particles to the replicate itself. The water begins to pool in the filter tub. Leaving the room, he carried Terry to the shower chamber. He strips him down and places him in the chamber. Korvo turns on the water and it rains on both of them. He observes the water getting sucked into his skin. Good, he’s still responsive. Korvo feels less dried up now that he’s also getting some moisture in him. 

Terry began to open his eyes as he felt the water hydrating him. Korvo sighs in relief, he’s becoming green again instead of a pale hue of green. “Korvo, what happened?” Terry slowly sits up, rubbing his head.

“We landed on a moon and got attacked by some ice creature. But it’s okay because we have water now.” Korvo explained. “Also, you were dehydrated.”

“Aw, Korvo. You landed to get water, just for me?” Terry asked. 

“No, we needed water anyway and you just so happen to be dehydrated.” He explains himself, trying to sound nice but it doesn’t work. “I didn’t think the water supply would run out so quickly. But don’t worry, I made a device—” Before Korvo could finish his sentence, Terry gives him a hug in the shower. 

“You do care!” He says, burying his head in Korvo’s soaked shirt.

“Yes, Terry. We are partners.” He pats Terry’s back, unsure if this is how to comfort someone. “I couldn't do this without you even if I wanted to.”

Again, this would be a perfect intimate moment for a kiss or something, but they’re aliens. They don’t do human stuff, at least not yet. 

Korvo releases Terry and goes outside to fetch him a robe. Once he returns, he wraps Terry in the robe and brings him to his feet. When they leave the chamber, they see the replicants outside watching through the window. Jesse waves at both Terry and Korvo, while Yumyulack smirks at them.

“Can we have a turn in the shower? I’m thirsty!” Jesse yells through the door. 

The adults finish their turn and let the replicants bask in the water. Terry smiles at their little family. He turns to Korvo, “So, where are we now?”

“In some galaxy. There might be an unpopulated, habitable planet around here.” Korvo says as they make their way to the main deck. 

“Oh! How exciting!” Terry beamed. “We get to finally leave the ship. Speaking of that, how was it leaving the confines of this hunk of metal?”

“I couldn’t taste the ground because I was in a suit, but it was… a learning experience.” Korvo smiled. 

“I’m so jealous.” Terry admitted. 

“Don’t be too jealous, Terry.” Korvo placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. “You’ll get to taste the ground of an actual planet instead of a hostile moon.”

“You’re gonna make me cry.” He tears up, hugging Korvo again, making the blood rush to his face. He wasn’t used to this much affection in a single day. Nobody on Shlorp shows affection so physically, but Terry was always the odd ball.

“Aisha, mark the location of the closest habitable planet.” Korvo ordered. 

“Done!” Aisha tells the plant aliens.

“Perfect! Oh, I can't wait!" Terry commented as he bounced happily.


	5. Chapter 5

The spaceship soars through the vast emptiness of space. Terry would tell Korvo about how excited he was and what he was going to do when they got to the planet. Korvo shared his ideas of studying the lesser organisms or any kind of foreign mineral that could be of use to them. 

This was what Terry always dreamed of, being on a land that isn’t Shlorp, well not yet. If he played his cards right and slowed down the process of the pupa’s growth, then he’d get to enjoy the new planet longer.

The four Shorpians sat in their pilot seats as they guided the ship towards the coordinates that Aisha gave. While Terry was zoning out while listening to Korvo talk about science stuff, he sees something from the corner of his eye. “Meteor!” He yelled, but before anyone could react, it came into contact with the ship and damaged the main boosters. 

The spaceship tipped over, so that it made the passengers sideways in the ship. “The boosters are busted.” As Korvo says that, he checks the location of the ship and sees that it’s entering a different solar system, which is not their intended location. “Goddammit, we’re caught in another solar system’s gravity.” Without the main boosters, they can’t launch themselves away. 

As they got sucked deeper into the planetary system, they reached the Asteroid Ring. Korvo pressed the buttons and dials to activate the smaller boosters, which could possibly do minimal help, but at least it’s something rather than dying out in space.

“Woah,” Yumyulack gazed at the rocks in space passing by. “An Asteroid Ring.”

“Korvo, what do we do?” Terry asked, as they got caught in the gravity of the ring. 

“I’m gonna t— try to go through it.” Korvo says, being unsure of himself. “We can’t get stuck here or we’ll risk further damage to the ship and we can’t fly out of here because we’ll just get sucked in again.”

Korvo pressed a button that gave the small boosters a bit more power to go through the Asteroid Ring. Just as it was smooth sailing, another asteroid hits the space ship, damaging the top of the ship and puncturing the metal. Aisha sets the alarm for the ship that it’s losing carbon dioxide. The ship automatically drops down space suits from the ceiling and the aliens quickly put them on. A bigger meteor was coming their way and Korvo pressed the button that activates the laser on the ship and it cuts the rock in half, missing the ship completely. 

“Why would they make a singular laser gun on only one side of the ship?” Korvo yells, raging as he tries to pilot the ship. 

Aisha confirms that there’s a habitable planet close by. Giving Korvo the coordinates, another space rock hits the ship directly on the busted main boosters, causing it to go into overdrive through the Asteroid Ring with ease, however it doesn’t stop.

The replicants and the adults screamed as the metal vessel sped towards the habitable planet’s coordinates. “We’re gonna die!” Terry screams as the alarm on the ship continuously blinks red.

Just as they were about to hit the planet, the boosters stopped. Korvo looks behind him at the lavatic reactor. It ran out, the tank was almost empty. The molecules couldn’t replicate fast enough for the boosters, and the ship was around where the moon was. 

Jesse began to cry and so did Yumyulack, soon after hearing the crying sounds Pupa was crying too. Korvo and Terry started laughing with tears in their eyes as gooblers popped out of their heads, they could’ve died. The sounds eventually died down while the soft noise of their source of breathing is hissing out of the tiny hole in this hunk of metal. 

“Let’s land this bitch.” Korvo says, voice hoarse and raspy. He kept activating the small boosters every few minutes to push the ship towards the blue planet because the lavatic reactor would fill up every so often which would power the boosters. It would be a hazard if Korvo turned on the main boosters and it wouldn’t turn off. 

Eventually when the ship got closer, Korvo didn’t bother using boosters anymore because they were caught in the atmosphere of the blue planet. Gravity will take its course. But apparently gravity took its course too soon. The ship was falling towards the planet causing it to catch on fire. 

“K— Korvo!” Terry yelled. 

“20 minutes until impact.” Aisha says. 

“The wings are stuck!” Korvo looked at the 3D hologram of the wing’s blueprint and found that one of the extenders was jammed because a broken piece of metal was in the way. “I’m gonna go fix the wing. Man the ship.” 

Before Terry got to say anything. Korvo already unbuckled himself and ran to the hallway of the ship. Terry ressures himself that he can do this. He looks down at the complicated buttons. One of these turns on the boosters. If he could aim the booster downwards, it'll push them up and gives Korvo more time.

Korvo went to the part of the ship where the wings were. He found the giant piece of metal stuck between the wedges of the wing. He attempts to pull the metal in to allow the wing to open.

“15 minutes until impact.” 

“We’re gonna die!” Jesse cries. 

Terry sees the lavatic reactor on the ship’s computer, it was half full. Terry presses a series of buttons that he remembered Korvo doing and the ship halted in the air, but it was still falling.

Korvo falls flat on his face, cracking the glass from his space suit. He gets up, shaking the dizziness from his head and continued to pull until it was finally budging. When it dislodged, the metal wing sprung open so that the ship was simply floating in the sky of the blue planet. Korvo returned to his team on the main deck. 

“Korvo, we did it!” Terry cheered. 

“Yes, Terry. And now, we wait.” Korvo says, as he takes a seat on his chair. 

The realtor walked around the house, checking to see if there’s any errors with the house before being sold to one of the buyers, named Tyler? She doesn’t really remember any of the people’s names when selling as long as she gets paid. 

Going up stairs to check on the rooms, a big machine thing crashes onto the top of the house. “What the fuck?” The realtor cursed, the door of the machine began to open and a green and blue alien came out in black robes. 

Falling to her feet, she screamed. 

“Hey, we— stop screaming, we come in peace. We saw the sign outside that this house is on sale and we wanna buy it.” Terry explained to the realtor. 

The realtor, still screaming and putting her hands in front of her. “Yes, yes just take the house! Please don’t hurt me!” 

Terry held his hand out and his abracadactyls popped out his arm. The realtor got up and ran down stairs, out the door screaming "aliens", and putting a “sold” sticker on the sign in the front yard. 

“Hey, you don’t think they’re scared of us, do you?” Terry turns to Korvo. 

“I’m still shocked that there’s aliens living on this planet. I thought it wasn’t populated.” Korvo says, as he obverse the structure of the house. 

“I’m still shocked that we’re even alive.” Terry gives a small chuckle. 

“Can we come out now?” Jesse asked, poking their head out of the door with Yumyulack standing behind them. 

“Yes, it’s safe.” Korvo approves as the replicants step off the ship and their shoes touching the floor of the house. “The atmosphere isn’t that different from Shlorp, except for the dirty air. God, what the hell are they doing to their planet. Why is it so toxic?”

“I don’t mind it. As long as we’re not on the ship or on Shlorp.” Terry says as he touches the railing while walking down the wooden steps. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Korvo follows him. 

The replicants began exploring their new home while Terry and Korvo go outside to see the neighborhood. The houses all look the same, painted the same color and made of wood. They observe the plant life from afar, which seems to be a lesser lifeform than these aliens. Korvo could hear the whispers of plants. They watched as a human sprayed chemicals on the flora while they cried and screamed in agony. 

“This place is so sad.” Korvo says, feeling bad for the plant-life.

Just as he stated so it began to rain down on them. The water from the rain gets absorbed into their skin and they bask in the moisture. “And it rains here too!” Terry commented while giving Korvo a hug from how happy he is. 

“What a cute couple.” An old lady says while walking by. 

“What’s a couple?” Terry asks Korvo.

He responds with a shrug. “Let’s go see what these humans have recorded.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The aliens call the ASTEROID BELT, an “Asteroid Ring” because humans came up with the name Asteroid Belt. I’d imagine they’d have a similar name.


	6. Chapter 6

One of the first things the alien family did together, after crashing onto Earth, was watch a couple of 90s sitcoms and movies. Terry was extremely fascinated with human culture, like how they wear different clothes everyday, or how they have materialistic items for status, or ice cream. Terry wanted to try them all. Maybe the humans will see that he's like them, willing to change and try new things, instead of being a scary, stereotypical alien from sci-fi movies.

While Korvo went to work on the ship, Terry left the house to go shopping, even though Korvo specifically said to not leave the house alone. It's not like Terry was going to get kidnapped, like in the movies, because no one would touch a filthy alien like him. 

After a few hours tracking down the nearest mall and shopping, Terry managed to buy two iPhone, 100 shirts and pants, and clothes for the replicants. Once Terry gets home, he sees Korvo sitting on the couch in the dark, waiting with his arms crossed. "Where were you?" he asks, narrowing his eyes. 

"Out, doing a bit of shopping." Terry closed the door with his leg. "Don't worry, I got you something too."

Korvo got to his feet and followed Terry up into the bedroom."That's not what I'm mad about, Terry." He grabs Terry's shoulder and turns him around, and poking at his chest. "You left without me when I specifically said no one can leave this house alone." 

"Wow, you're gonna make a big deal out of this just because I didn't take you with me?" He shakes Korvo’s grip off him, and puts his share of clothes in the closet. “I’m sorry for making you mad, but I assure you that everything is fine. I’m still here, nobody even noticed I was there.”

Korvo stays silent for a moment. If Terry says it’s okay, then it must be, right? He wouldn’t lie. But based off of the sci-fi movies that Terry puts on, it seems that humans would be hostile towards aliens. The movie, Men in Black shows humans and aliens working together to bust criminal aliens, which proves that not all humans want to rip apart their insides and study them. Instead of confronting Terry about his distrust in humans, he simply says, “it’s late. We should sleep.”

Korvo leaves the room to go back into the ship, into his room. Korvo takes the heavy robe off and it relieves his shoulders. He lays down in his bed, meaning to take a short break from being up and about for so long, but he accidentally falls asleep before taking out a manual to read.

The next day, Korvo wakes up from the alarm he set for himself. He turns to see that Terry wasn’t in his bed, which was strange for him to do. He usually sleeps in. Korvo leaves the ship to look for Terry and sees red and blue lights blinking through the window. He goes back into the ship and grabs the nearest ray gun he could reach for. Rushing downstairs and out the door, he sees Terry handcuffed by a cop. “I didn’t steal anything! I paid for everything I bought, I swear!” Terry yelled while being pinned by a cop against the car.

Korvo shot the two cops with the ray gun and they fell to the ground. He runs over to Terry, attempting to free him from the handcuffs. Korvo checks the cop for keys. “What did you do to them?” Terry asks.

Once retrieved, he uncuffed Terry as he touched his wrist from the slight pain. Korvo looks at the name of the gun. “I shot them with the Forget Ray.”

The neighbors begin to come out of their houses, asking what’s going on as the police officers wake up from the blast. “What happened?” One of them asks, rubbing their head. 

The other one says they didn’t know. They both look at Terry and Korvo, and flinched because of their appearance. 

“Hello, officers.” Terry waved at them. “You missed your emergency morning coffee.”

They look at the sun rising over the horizon. “Hey, you’re right! Thanks for telling us.”

The two cops got into their cars and drove away, leaving the neighbors wondering what the hell happened. 

"Wow, humans are dumb."

The returned to their house as Korvo says, “I never thought you, out of all people, would steal stuff from the mall. Seriously, Terry. That’s low, even for you.” 

“As I recall, before leaving Shlorp, YOU stole trillions of dollars worth of crystals.” Terry argued back. “And I didn’t steal anything, I paid for all the things I bought with Shlorpian money.” 

“We’re on an alien planet! What makes you think they accept Shlorpian money?” Korvo paced around the couch they took from the neighbors.

“I don’t know what they use for currency here!” Terry rubs his head. “Wait, I remember at the mall, I saw this old person hand the cashier a piece of paper and he accepted it.”

“It has to be more complicated than that. On Shlorp, money is something valuable.” Korvo thinks back to the movies he watched with Terry. Something about cowboys and mining, and… “Gold!” Korvo exclaimed. 

“No need to shout, Korv.” Terry touched the side of his head where his ears are. “I’m right here."

“Sorry, humans value gold. I remember, from one of those ridiculous human history things we watched.” Korvo ran upstairs to get the gold maker from the ship. He comes back down and shows Terry. “Lucky for us, we have this.”

“Oh, my god! Korvo, we’d be rich, according to human standards.” Terry coughed. Korvo presses the button on the small machine and it made a thousand golden nuggets in a second. “Holy shit.”

“Now that I’ve solved your problem, I’m gonna go fix the ship.” Korvo tells Terry, and leaves him to his own devices.

Once Korvo feels he’s done enough for the ship, he enters the house seeing it filled with furniture and paintings of plants. He follows the sound of talking to the living room where his partner and their replicants are talking about how the new couch feels less bumpy and more comfy. Terry catches a glance at Korvo and calls him over. “How do you like the furniture, Korvo? I spent around nine thousand golden nuggets on this. Who knew humans were so cheap!” 

“Yeah!” Jesse beamed. “We even got a bigger TV!” 

Korvo noticed that Terry and Jesse aren’t wearing the robes and instead they’re wearing the lame human clothing. Jesse wears a pink dress while Terry wears a bit too tight shirt and shorts. 

“Oh, Korvo, you should see Jesse’s and Yumyulack’s room!” Terry gets up from the floor and pulls him upstairs to a room that was once empty. There were two beds, one pink and one red, a blue rug in the middle and pictures on the walls. It almost looks like a replica of the children’s room in the shows. Korvo smiles, the room had so much personality and it made his replicants happy. 

The replicants ran to their bed and bounced on it, laughing. The ship's bed didn’t have much of a cushion on it. The low ceiling also made it impossible to jump on. 

“Perhaps, we should go out to eat together.” Korvo says, “Like humans.” 

“Really?” Terry clasps his hands together, hopefully. 

“Yes, we haven’t celebrated surviving the crash. And today would be the perfect opportunity.” Korvo explained. 

They used the car that Terry bought today, and they also learned how to use it on the way to Mcdonld’s. When they got there, Jesse watched as the cashier gave the little girl a Mcdonald’s toy. They gasp. They want a toy too. Their dress also resembles the little girl’s, maybe the cashier will give her a toy too. 

When the alien family ordered their food, Jesse got their toy. They look at their toy, and back at the little girl sitting with her family at a different table. Jesse wanted to be a girl too.

When the family came back home, the replicants raced each other to their bedroom, while Terry almost leaves the car but Korvo grabs his arm, stopping him. 

“Wait,” Korvo held his arm, and Terry does what he says. “Since you know how to drive this car, I want you to teach me.”

Terry smiles. “Okay, but you have to do a human thing for me.”

“Just because I want to learn how to drive?” Korvo asks, almost laughing. 

“Yes, you never ask me to teach you anything because you already know everything.” 

“Though that might be true, I don’t know some things. Like stuff about the pupa because, you know, that’s your job.” Korvo says sarcastically. 

“Do you wanna learn how to drive or not?”

“Yes, okay!” 

“Good, now let's switch seats.” Terry clicks the door open and leaves the driver seat. Korvo does the same thing and goes into the driver’s seat while Terry sits in the passenger seat. 

“Wait, you didn’t tell me what human thing you wanted me to do.” Korvo says, nervousness in his voice. 

“Aw, Korvo, are you nervous?” Terry teases. 

“No! Now what do I do?” He eagerly grabs the steering wheel. While Terry taught Korvo how to drive this vehicle, Korvo realized how Terry was a good teacher. He was patient and never ridiculed, unlike the elders on Shlorp. Within an hour, Korvo got the hang of driving. 

The couple went upstairs and checked on the replicants, who were sleeping soundly in their beds. Terry held Korvo’s hand and led him to their new room. It had a king sized bed and a night stand for each of them. “I tried really hard to copy King of Queens.” Terry mentioned. 

“You want me to sleep in a bed?” Korvo asked, sitting on the mattress. 

“Well, I wanted to get you accustomed to human culture and what better way to do that than to sleep in a human bed.” Terry sat down next to his partner. 

“Human beds aren’t that different from the ones back home, you know that right? Except, these ones are a bit... “

“Comfier?” Terry interrupted.

“I was gonna say colorful.” 

“There’s also another thing, you know how Carrie and Doug share a bed? I wanted to share one too, because that’s what human adults do. I want to blend in more. They have so much to offer.” Terry says, getting up and going to the closet to find a pair of pajama pants and a different shirt. Korvo watches Terry as he changes into sleepwear. “What?”

“Nothing.” Korvo averted his gazes. He takes his shoes off and lays in bed. Terry joins him. 

They lay there for a while, until Korvo gets up and leaves the room. He returns with a manual. Turning on the nightstand lamp, Korvo turns to the last page he was on from the night before and reads through the pages. 

Terry fidgets with his abracadactyls before asking Korvo, “can I get a goodnight kiss?”

Korvo looks down at his partner laying his head in a pillow, pouting. “What’s a goodnight kiss?”

Terry sits up and explains, “Well, it’s what adults do for a good night by touching lips.”

Korvo doesn’t say anything and looks at Terry. 

Terry begins gooblering, feeling stupid for even asking so much of him. He already wants Korvo to sleep in a bed and with him, no less. Engaging in the human ritual, such as kissing was pushing the limit. 

“Nevermind, you don’t have to if—” Before Terry could finish, Korvo already touched lips with him. He quickly pulled away as Terry caught a glimpse of Korvo’s face being flustered. Korvo wondered how humans could do this so casually, without feeling overwhelmed and excited. 

Terry layed back down and faced away from Korvo. His face felt hot too. He didn’t think Korvo was so bold. He buried his face in his hands. Terri-with-an-i hadn’t made him feel like this either. He began to think being on Earth was a mistake if he was losing his cool here. Nobody on Shlorp kisses, even with a lifemate! Just simply being in each other’s company was enough. Terry shook the thoughts away and tried to focus on sleep. 

Korvo leaned a bit towards Terry to see if he was asleep. He closed his book because he wasn’t paying attention to what he was reading. He was too busy daydreaming about redoing the kiss, or thinking what would happen if he didn’t pull away so soon. This kiss was being blown out of proportion. He needs to sleep. Korvo closed the light and rested his head on the pillow. He glanced at Terry, wondering if he did a bad job at kissing. Korvo turns over and closes his eyes. He doesn’t want to think about this now.


	7. Chapter 7

It’s been two months since the family had crashed onto the dirt planet. Just when things are going well, it gets worse. 

Korvo didn’t agree with how Terry was going to the extreme just to get people to like him, like he would buy gardening stuff and try to make the front yard look nice with flowers that were abused by appliance stores. Korvo felt guilty, hearing them cry for water, which Terry would give them little to none and eventually abandoned them.

Terry bought paint and tried to paint the house a nicer color, like blue, and the pupa ended up eating all the paint and getting sick. Korvo was the one who had to clean up the mess while Terry kept yelling at the neighbors if the house looked nice. 

“Terry,” Korvo called, while petting the pupa, attempting to sooth its stomach pain. 

“Hm?” Terry looked through a catalogue of outdoor pools because he saw that the neighbor had pools and he wanted to get one too. He planned to invite them over for—

Korvo snatches the catalogue, interrupting Terry’s imagination.

“Hey!” Terry tries to snatch it back but Korvo moves his hand so that Terry couldn’t reach it.

“I thought you were going to help me instead of trying to satisfy these meat bags.” Korvo puts a hand on his hip which reminds Terry of a housewife on one of those sitcoms. 

“I will, I just wanted to get a pool. The Millers have a big one in their backyard and I thought it would be nice to bask in the water and the sun.” Terry explained.

“No, Terry. You’re gonna buy another useless thing and you’re gonna talk me into helping you fix it up, only for you to neglect using it.” Korvo set the pupa on the couch and crossed his arm. “You haven’t helped me once, l-like you said you would.”

“I’ll help you next time.”

“No! You won’t!” Korvo yelled. “I know you’re just desperate for human a-a-admiration, but face it, they’ll never accept us!”

“Yes, they will!” Terry got up to his feet and pointed a finger at Korvo. “Just because you hate Earth doesn’t mean I have to hate it too.”

“Why are you doing this?” Korvo asks. “You’re going so far as to hurt the lesser plant life here just to, what, have one second of approval? You don’t need to change yourself for these people.”

“Who said I was?” Terry got up to Korvo’s face.

“You tried to bleach your skin last week and had to stay in the healing chamber for 3 days and you cried because you were still green.” 

Jesse played with her teddy bear that Terry bought her from the bear building place. “Hey, what do you think Terry and Korvo are doing?” She asked her pseudo-sibling, while he was chipping away at the wall in their bedroom. 

“Don’t know,” Yumyulack poked at the wall with a knife, trying to be gentle enough to not make a hole through it. “I’m kinda busy right now.”

“With what? Destroying our room?” Jesse scoffed while laying in her bed and switching on the TV.

They heard a loud shattering sound coming from downstairs. They ran to the source of the sound and watched from the top of the stairs through the wooden bars. 

“Maybe I’ll just leave if you didn’t need me so much!” Terry yelled as he opened the front door.

“Yeah, go try to blend with people who hate you! See if they’ll take you in, a freak like you!” Korvo panted from how much adrenaline he was making. 

“I always hated Shlorp and all you do is remind me of it. I hate you, Korvo!” Terry stomped out of the house with tears in his eyes and slammed the door. He took the car and drove off to where he was wanted, even though he doesn’t know where that place would be. 

Korvo sat on the couch, putting his head in his hands and began gooblering as he sobbed. It was all too overwhelming for him. 

The replicants sneaked away to their room, to avoid disturbing Korvo. 

He stayed in the living room, thinking about his argument he had with Terry. He was still angry but he was mostly sad that he drove his partner away. Korvo thought about how he should bring this up to the replicants, he wasn’t sure if Terry would ever come back. 

Korvo stayed in the same spot for hours, until it was midnight. He didn’t know why he was staying in this one spot for so long. Just staying still felt better than having to go into his room without Terry being there to make annoying comments or attempt to make Korvo feel more open towards Earth. Eventually, fatigue got the best of him and he makes his way to his and Terry’s room. Korvo opens the door finding nothing but the bed and blankets. The pupa pulls on Korvo’s robe and did hand gestures to be picked up. Korvo picks him up and goes to lay on the bed, holding the pupa to his chest while he sleeps. 

The sun pops out of the sky, as Terry sleeps in a sitting position in the driver’s seat at a Walmart’s parking lot. The knock on the window jolts Terry awake as he tries to focus his eyes to see who’s disturbing him. He opens the car window and sees a cop. 

“Officer, I was just getting some shuteye.” Terry yawned. 

“You can’t sleep here.” He says.

“Right, sorry.” Terry apologized. “I’ll move.” He starts up his car as the cop walks away and drives off in his cop car.

He doesn’t move though. Terry sits there, zoning out and thinking about what happened yesterday. He couldn’t believe he left, they must be worried about him. Unless Korvo was right, and they don’t care that he’s gone. The thought left a twinge in his chest. As Terry thought about going home, he hadn’t realized he was driving further away from home. 

Eventually, he found himself in Las Vegas and out of gas. When he pulls up to a gas station and puts gas in his car, Terry sees a bunch of fancy cars driving towards a casino. Filled with curiosity himself, he leaves the gas station and follows the fancy long cars. When he was close enough, Terry parked in a dark place, surely no one would try to jack his car here if they can’t find it. Terry followed the bright lights in the night sky to the casino. 

Terry hid behind a crowd to enter the guarded casino. Once inside, he gasps at how big the place was and that it looks exactly like in the movies. Seeing security guards coming his way, Terry ran into a supply closet to hide. He turned the lights on in the small room and found a blond wig and an employee outfit. Terry remembers how the females on this planet have balls on their chest, so he stuffs balled up napkins in his shirt and stepped out of the closet. 

While Terry explored the casino, Terry gambled a bit with the little money he had and won thousands. Gambling was banned on Shlorp and it was way more extreme than just playing cards. 

From across the room, Terry locked eyes with the love of his life, Ansel Elgort. He made his way to Terry and basically breathed in his face. Terry thought it was sweet because he was giving him carbon dioxide, which is what gives him life. Ansel shoved liquor at Terry’s face and it got onto his skin, causing him to cough, tasting the liquor. It made Terry feel light and stress free. Eventually, he ends up drinking a bit too much. 

Ansel forced a kiss on Terry and he accepted it. He doesn’t even know this person but he was already so forward. The kiss felt different, nothing like what Korvo gives. It was deep, rushed, sloppy…. And not Korvo. 

Terry forced the thought of his ex-partner out of his head by grabbing Ansel’s cup and downing the whole thing, making him instantly buzzed. The room felt like it was spinning. “I didn’t get your name.” Ansel says, sounding like he’s talking in slow motion.

“Terry.” Terry answered. 

“I’m Ansel Elgort. Lemme show you a good time.” He says. 

They spent the rest of the night drinking, partying and gambling their lives away. The alcohol was making Terry feel like Ansel Elgort was the most interesting person in the world, and the most loveliest. Terry liked the way he put his arm around his shoulders, making him feel like he belongs somewhere. The way they held hands feels like it’s a perfect match. 

“We s-should get married!” Terry slurs his words. “I don’t need… Korvo. I can be happ without ‘im.”

“You’re s-s-so beautiful.” Ansel stutters, “fuck that Korvo guy, let’s make him wish he was invited to our weddin’.”

And they shared their drunken vows in the casino. 

Terry wakes up the next day, dried up, like a raisin, and also in Ansel’s bed. He watches how his chest moves up and down while he sleeps. Terry gets up from the bed and goes into the kitchen to make some housewife breakfast. 

Ansel wakes up to the smell of eggs and a blonde wig in his bed. He reaches for it and sees the ring on his finger. He shot up and rushed to the kitchen to find Terry without a wig. Terry waves and winks at him. 

“Ansel!” Terry exclaimed. “Last night was amazing, also I woke up with a ring on my finger. Don’t know how that got there” He chuckles. 

“Um, Terry, right?” Ansel rubs his head. “About last night—”

“I’m so glad we got married and you were so understanding about Korvo.” Terry closes the stove and puts the eggs on a plate. 

“Korvo?” He says, taking a seat in a chair.

“Yeah, my partner— ex-partner.” Terry corrected himself, leaning against the counter. “We were too different from each other. It would’ve never worked between us.”

“Then why are you still thinking about him?” Ansel asks, trying to get Terry to go back to whoever this Korvo is, so they could get divorced. Clearly, this was some kind of mistake. 

“I… I don’t know.” Terry looks down, not understanding why he’s still hung up on Korvo so much when he’s happily married to Ansel. 

“Look, I think you still might have feelings for Korvo.”He gets up from his seat and pats Terry on the back. "You should go back to him. "

“But I love you!” Terry says, reenacting a scene from an old romance movie. 

Ansel turns away from Terry, all dramatically. “How can you love me when you barely know me?” 

It was true. Terry barely knew Ansel, he doesn’t even know what his favorite food is. But Terry knew Korvo, and Korvo was the one who hurt him in the first place. Terry hugs Ansel from behind and says, “I wanna get to know you.” 

Ansel began to sweat. He needed another plan to get rid of Terry. 

Ansel talked Terry into going to the casino again. Though he was hesitant, he accepted because he loved Ansel so much. When Terry went to go get both of them drinks at a bar, Ansel disappeared into the crowd. Later, Terry finds Ansel surrounded by hot girls. Terry rushed over there and pulled him away from them. “What are you doing?” He asks, “You’re married.”

“Are you mad?” He asks. Terry crosses his arms and frowns. He was furious. Just yesterday, Ansel told Terry that he’ll love him forever. He wasn’t aware that forever meant one day. Ansel grabbed Terry’s face a bit too aggressively and looked him in the eyes. “Do me a favor and fuck off. We're not married.” His breath was thick with the scent of liquor.

Terry choked on his tears. “You’re just drunk. Y-you don’t mean that.”

Ansel pulled on one of the girl’s arm and gave her a wet kiss, the same one that he gave to Terry. He gasps, and runs out of the casino. He goes to find where he last left his car. Once he found it, he felt around on his clothes for the keys and realized that he’s not wearing his own clothes. Terry kicks the car and cries, bringing his feet to his chest. He really wishes Korvo was here with him. 


	8. Chapter 8

Korvo had prepared for the replicants to enter school because the sitcoms showed how school was beneficial for them to learn. And to Korvo, knowledge was everything. When Korvo sat in the office at the school, they had asked him if he was married, he said no, because marriage was a human, but he couldn’t help thinking about his partner. Humans who get together romantically consider themselves as partners. He’d be lying if he didn’t feel a bit happy to be Terry’s “partner”. 

Since Terry took the car when he left, the replicants were forced to take the bus to school. They were still worried about Terry ever since Korvo told them that he might not be coming back. They weren’t surprised because Terry was never truly angry. He always calmed down before Korvo could and would diffuse the situation before things got out of hand, but this time he couldn’t, and he was the first one to leave. No one could contact Terry because he left his phone in the house. 

While Jesse was worried, Yumyulack wasn’t. He was confident that Terry would come back because he can’t talk to humans about human stuff, since they already know about it. The only people he could talk to would be his family. He looked down at his vest. Korvo told him to wear it because it has special mechanics in it. When he asked to test out the mechanics, Korvo declined, telling him that it would kill him if he tested it out. Yumyulack wished he had this suit when he was training, it would’ve been a lot easier to get through the tests. 

The one kid on the bus threw a crumpled up piece of paper at Yumyulack’s head. He turns his head to see the group of boys giggling in the back of the bus. He crosses his arms and lifts his shoulders. “Ignore them, Yumyulack.” Jesse tries to comfort him.

“This sucks. I already went to school.” He complained. 

Jesse frowned, feeling bad that her brother hates it here on Earth, like Korvo. But at least he’s not miserable. 

Korvo hadn’t stepped foot in the ship ever since Terry left. He was debating whether he should put up missing posters. He began to doubt the safety of his partner because he didn’t bring any gadgets with him. Korvo should’ve put a tracker in the car. 

He went outside to water the plants that Terry neglected to do when he bought them. These plants were one of the last things he left before he ran away. The plants thanked Korvo for feeding them. He kneels down and touches the leaves of the Hibiscus. “I think I fucked up.” He admits to the flora. 

They all speak at once, asking why and if he was okay. One flower says, “You always look so sad.”

“I am. I drove my partner away.” He looks down at the flowers. 

“He’ll show up.” One says.

“Yeah, he can’t stay away for long!” The flowers encouraged Korvo, and it works. He smiles at how helpful the flowers are being. They’re much kinder than the neighboring species. “We can feel your love for each other!” 

“W-what are you talking about?” Korvo 

“N-nothing!” A different flower says. 

Korvo narrowed his eyes, suspicious of what they meant by their statement.

When Korvo goes back into the house, the flowers sighed in relief. 

Terry had been on the streets for at least a week now and his clothes are ready worn out and falling off his body. If it hadn’t stormed for three days, maybe he could’ve gotten some warmth, but no. He asked around for money to get on a bus back home, but people would give him a disgusted look and walk away.

He had thought about going back to Ansel’s hotel to sleep there for a while, but just the thought of seeing him made him goobler and cry. He was starting to think if Korvo was right about Earth and humans. They seemed so nice on TV but in real life they were so mean. 

While walking around Las Vegas, Terry came across a bunch of homeless people living under a bridge. He walked over to them and sat beside a wall. He knew he was dehydrated by the small puffs of steam releasing from his pores on my arm. He hopes that being in the shade would reduce the water escaping him. Terry wants to cry but no tears escape him because he doesn’t have enough water in him to produce tears. A homeless man came and sat next to him, patting him on the back. 

“It’s okay, kid.” The old man says. 

“It’s not!” Terry sobbed. “I can’t even cry!” 

The old man sat next to Terry until he calmed down. He gave Terry a bottle of water and he just poured it on himself, feeling hydrated a bit, but he doesn’t know how long it’ll last for before he gets thirsty again. “I think I fucked up.” He admits to the old man.

“We all have, somehow.” He assured him.

“I got into a fight with my partner and I ran away. I was just so mad. I found myself here and married a beautiful man, then he dumped me.” Terry explained, pulling his legs up to his chest. “I lost the keys to my car, and when I went to look for my keys, someone stole my car. Now, I’m stuck here.” 

“I’m sorry to hear.” The old man says. “Do you want to go home?”

“Yes, no. I don’t know.” Terry rubs his arm. “Korvo might still be mad at me. I told him I hated him.”

“Well?” The old man asked, “Is it true?”

“No! I love—” Terry stopped himself from completing the sentence. There’s no way that he could love Terry back because he only sees him as a partner. Terry shook his head. Korvo wasn’t worthy of his love, but he still feels this way for him. 

“I know a way to get you home.” The old man says as he shows Terry a syringe.

“How’s this gonna get me—”

The old man shooshed Terry, and took his arm. “You’ll see your Korvo again, I promise.” He stuck the needle under Terry’s skin and pushed the liquid inside. “Now, it just wait until it kicks in.”

Terry rubs the spot he was poked in. “Until what kicks —” The heroin kicks in before he finishes his question. While the drug makes humans sleepy, for an alien like Terry, it made him unconsciously do the thing he was last thinking about. On Shlorp, people use heroin to cheat on tests or classes because it made the user unconscious but they still retain memories from doing the thing they last thought about.

Terry's last thought was going home. So, he got up and began walking.


	9. Chapter 9

The night couldn’t be more dreadful. The rain was heavy and the clouds flashed lightning a few times, while the sound of angry gods followed. As Korvo prepared the bed to sleep, movement from outside the window caught his attention. The figure resembled Terry. He squinted and realised it was Terry. By the time he ran down the stairs and opened the door, Terry was already in front of it, about to knock. The thunder and lightning followed, startling Korvo. 

He hadn't seen his partner in about a month. Just when Korvo was about to ask Terry what happened, Terry just hugged his partner, mostly leaning on him from his lack of energy. Korvo held onto him and pulling him into the house. He closed the door behind Terry and just gave him a moment while he cried in Korvo’s shoulder. When he pulled away, Korvo saw how he was covered in mud, his clothes were soaked and tattered, and he had only one shoe on. 

Korvo took Terry upstairs and made a bath for him. He helped Terry take his clothes off and he sat in the bath, holding his knees to his chest. Terry zoned out, thinking back to what happened when he ran away from home. An old man drugged him, which caused Terry to walk miles all the way home through the storm and wild animals. Some disgusting old guy stopped his car to try to kidnap Terry and he ended up killing the dude by accident and leaving him on the side of the road. He stole the truck he was driving and drove his way back home, but the truck ended up getting stuck on a railroad track and hit by a train. Terry had to walk home, yet again. When he regained consciousness, he was already in his town. Remembering that he lives here, Terry kept walking even though his feet hurt and he’s pretty sure that if he stopped he’ll end up waking up in Vegas. 

Terry held his hand up as he noticed the ring still on his finger. He twisted the band around his finger, thinking back to Ansel. He doesn’t want to let go yet. 

Korvo left a few minutes ago to give Terry some privacy. He went into the kitchen to get Terry some water. When he returned, he found Terry in his spot on the bed, looking at the rain pattering on the window. 

He pressed the cold bottle on the alien’s skin, startling him. Terry takes the bottle and sets it on his nightstand. Korvo figured that Terry needed some comfort so he sat beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Remembering that Ansel used to do that to Terry, he immediately turned to Korvo and kissed him, forcing his tongue in his mouth. Terry didn't want to feel sad anymore. He wanted that giddy feeling he got when Ansel kissed him.

Surprised by the sudden action, pushed Terry away and wiped his lips. "Terry, what the hell?" Korvo still had his hand on Terry's chest as he leaned in to kiss Korvo again, trying to replicate what Ansel did. "Terry…" Korvo says, mid kiss.

Terry pulled back and looked Korvo in the eyes. He doesn't need Ansel when he has someone else. "Let's have sex." 

"What- you know we can't." As Terry was about to force another kiss onto Korvo, he pushed the green alien away and stood up. "What's gotten into you?"

"Am I not enough?" Terry asked, not really looking for the answer to his question. His eyes began to tear up as he buried his face in his palms.

Korvo went over to pat his shoulder, thinking that maybe a hug would be a bit much after what just happened. "What's going on, Terry?" 

"I-I was married!" He sobbed, loudly.

"What?" Korvo couldn't believe this. "With a human?"

"Yes! His name was Ansel Elgort and he had gorgeous eyes. We got married at a casino in Las Vegas." Terry looked up at Korvo, tears still falling from his eyes. "And then he- he broke my heart! He told me to fuck off and I ended up homeless! Some homeless guy drugged me with heroin, I didn’t think humans knew how to make heroin! And I woke up outside-" 

"Shh.. it's okay." Korvo pulled Terry into a hug. 

"I shouldn't have ran away." Terry muffled into Korvo's chest. 

Korvo wanted to say 'I told you so,' but kept it to himself. Now wasn't the time to be an asshole. He suggested that they should get some rest, which was what Terry desperately needed. Terry spent the night in Korvo's arms.

Early in the wee morning, Korvo snuck away to the ship and Aisha greeted him, asking why he hadn’t shown up for at least a month. He completely ignored her and began typing away at her station to upgrade her. “What are you doing?” She asks.

“Upgrading you. Since we’re stuck here, I might as well install some human information into your system.” Korvo explains. 

“You mean useless information.” Aisha joked. “You’ve been gone for a month and all of a sudden, you wanna upgrade me. I can tell something is wrong with you.”

“It’s not your job to be sympathetic.” 

“Wow, rude much?” 

When Korvo finished, it showed him information about Earth and all the private info about the governments and leaders. He sees everything that was sent to Area 51, even deleted documents in the US. “They need a better security system.”

Within a few minutes Korvo already found information of Ansel Elgort and his whereabouts. Looks like he’s auditioning for a movie. “Korvo, what are you doing?”

“Nothing that concerns you.” He says, grabbing the unfinished ray gun he was making before crashing onto Earth, a red crystal and a couple of screws. 

Korvo fixes up the ray gun in the back of the taxi while the driver takes him all the way to California. Originally, the gun was supposed to be a slime gun, which turns people into a pile of slime, but Korvo scratched the idea when he found out that Ansel Elgort broke Terry’s heart. He’ll make him pay. 

Ansel had spoken to his manager last week about a role in a movie and surprisingly he got the part. They just liked the way he looked, which had nothing to do with his ability to act. Maybe this would kick start his career as an actor. 

His manager drove him to the set, but not before getting a cup of coffee first. Once he was in his room, the makeup artists would prepare him with makeup and clothes for the role. When all the makeup ladies left the room, Ansel was alone. Korvo slips out of the closet, holding his newly made gun.

Seeing the reflection of Korvo in the mirror, Ansel immediately stands up and turns to him. “Who- who are you?”

“Doesn’t matter where you’re going.” He points the gun at Ansel.. 

“If this is about Terry—” Ansel puts his hands up, keeping his eyes on the weapon.

“What do you know about Terry?” 

“Not much, but she was fun to be around. I’m just not ready to get married and she wouldn’t leave. I did what I had to do.” He tried to explain.

Korvo didn’t say anything, but continued to point the gun at him, which made Ansel more agitated.

“Now, I can see why Terry left you in the first place. You’re obsessive, caring too much about yourself, and you never let things go.” Ansel began to sweat. He doesn’t realize that he’s talking about himself. 

“That’s not true.” Korvo began to panic. Had Terry left because he was selfish. Terry only wanted to do what made him happy and Korvo would ruin it. He said it himself. Korvo only reminded Terry of the place he always hated.

“It is. Terry will never love you, nobody ever will.”

"Shut up!" Korvo screamed as he shot the portal gun at the floor. Ansel looked down the hell dimension and saw the whirlpool made of fire. Korvo kicks him down the portal and it closes. He quickly leaves the room before anyone becomes suspicious of him. 

“Let’s go, Carlos.” Korvo says to the taxi driver as he gets in the passenger seat. Maybe he won’t tell Terry about this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ansel thought Terry was a girl the whole time.


	10. Chapter 10

Three months have passed since Terry left home, and the replicants were happy that he was back. Korvo had told them to avoid asking what Terry did when he was gone to avoid making the guy sad about Ansel. 

It was night time and Terry laid in bed alone. He wondered if he should go up in the ship to bring Korvo to bed. Before he could do so, Korvo appeared by the bedroom door without his robe and covered in soot. Terry watched him go into the bathroom and changed out of his clothes into pajamas. He silently slipped his way to the bed next to Terry and closed the light.

Terry laid down in bed, pulling the sheets up to his chin. They hadn’t done goodnight kisses for a while now and Terry misses it. He figured it was because Korvo was always so tired to do it but it’s been three months since they did any physical intimacy stuff. It'll only take a second. 

“Um, Korvo?” Terry called. 

“Hmmm?” Korvo hummed, not bothering to open his eyes.

“Can we kiss again?” He asked, facing Korvo and propping himself up. 

Anxiety fills Korvo’s head. He does want to kiss Terry again but he can’t help but feel like a rebound for Ansel. Terry couldn’t love him, even if he did, it’s not like Korvo can provide that kind of love. Partners aren’t supposed to be lovers, which is why they were paired together. Being on Earth has taught Korvo some things, kissing happens between lovers, and sometimes kids, but Korvo doesn’t understand why adults would want to kiss their kids. He and Terry aren’t lovers. And they’re not human, so he shouldn’t engage in their customs. “No.” He answers. 

“Why not?” Terry touches his shoulder. “We did it before.”

“We didn’t know what kissing was before. Now we know. Kissing on Earth is a human thing, we’re not humans.” Korvo clutches his blanket, unable to look at Terry.

“It’s not bad to—”

“I said no!”

Terry was silent. He turned away from Korvo and didn’t tell him goodnight. 

If Korvo wanted to be a dick, then Terry doesn’t mind being one too. Parties are a great way to ease a heartbreak. Terry spent the day sending out invitations to his neighbors who have become quite accustomed to living with aliens. He quickly drove to the store for snacks with the new car he bought on sale for cheap. The store had liquor, so Terry bought a shit ton of that too. He remembers the feeling from the last time he drank. 

Terry had bought some decorations for the party. When Jesse and Yumyulack came home from school, they thought it was some special occasion.

“Nope,” Terry says. “I just wanted to host a party because I thought it would be fun.” 

“You gotta let us party too!” Jesse demanded.

“No way! You are too young.”

“No we’re not! We literally have cocaine for breakfast.” Yumyulack says.

Terry sighs, “Okay, just don’t tell Korvo I let you guys party.”

Soon the family house began to fill. Jesse spotted Stacy F.’s mom at the party, which was weird because she lives on the other side of town. Jesse pulled Yumyulack into the bathroom after he was stealing people’s wallets. “Hey, what the hell? I was busy making bank.”

“Stacy F’s mom is here!”

“So?” He crossed his arms.

“So, if she’s here then that means she’ll tell Stacy and it’ll spread that our house had a cool party, which means we’ll be popular at school!” She cheered.

“You know what this means right?”

“We’ll be popular!” Jesse threw her hands up 

“And I’ll finally get to hang with the podcast guys!” They jumped and cheered together. 

Meanwhile, the adults were getting so shit faced at the party they began to trash the house and break things, one of which was the TV. Terry thought he would worry about it later since he can just buy another one. One drink, then two, then four, Terry was wasted. Someone turned up the music so loud that Korvo could hear it from the ship. Cutting his work short, he goes to investigate the noise and finds his house filled with strangers. He rushed downstairs to find Terry and yell at him, but he caught him making out with Bob from down the street.

He felt angry? Disappointed? Maybe a little sad? Whatever he was feeling, he didn’t like how that pale man touched Terry while locking lips with him. Korvo pulled Terry away from Bob, causing him to stumble on his feet. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Korvo asked, still holding onto Terry’s arm. 

“What d’you mean? Here.” Terry picks up a cup of beer and shoves it in Korvo’s face. “Try some.” 

“Why is there a party in our house?” 

“I dunno, i-i-it just happened.” Terry shrugged, while checking someone out. “Hold this. I got something to attend to.” He hands Korvo the cup with piss in it and stumbles to the pretty girl over by the door. 

Korvo rolled his eyes. Terry’s never done something like this for him before. He watched as Terry stupidly flirts with the blonde bimbo Jessica. Dammit! Korvo can be a blonde bimbo too! He grits his teeth while he watches them laugh together, probably talking about some mom show on TV. There’s no way Terry has any game. The voice inside of Korvo’s head told him otherwise because Terry did get married to a pretty boy. Korvo just threw his hands up in the air and stomped back into the ship. He doesn’t need Terry, he can do anything on his own. 

Korvo wakes up the next day at his workstation. He had forgotten that he fell asleep in the first place. He opens the door to the ship to find the house a cluttering mess with trash and piss on the floor. Korvo rubs his head. He’s pissed. 

Later in the day, Terry comes out of his room to find Korvo mopping the piss that was in the kitchen. Terry doesn’t remember who pissed on the floor but he does know one thing. Korvo doesn’t look happy. 

Terry walks over to the coffee maker to make himself a drink to get rid of his splitting headache. “Listen,” he started, “about last night, I’m sorry I threw a party. I know it got a bit out of hand.”

Korvo didn’t bother to listen to Terry’s apologies and simply left the kitchen to go clean elsewhere. A simple “sorry” wouldn’t change the fact that he obviously doesn’t care about him. It’s not like it’s important to him if Terry likes him, but this thought would occupy him for the whole day. He doesn’t want Terry to know that he cares if Terry likes him. He’ll make fun of him for sure. 

Korvo aimlessly mops the dining room, deep in thought, mostly about Terry kissing other people. When they kissed for the first time, he thought it was only meant for him. Was he not special? Why should he care so much about this anyway? It’s not like they’re married or anything. It’s not cheating. 

“Korvo?” Terry stood at the doorway, holding a cup. 

Korvo ignored his partner and continued to mop the floor. 

“You’re not still mad about the party, are you?” 

He doesn’t look at him. Instead he turns away, knowing that saying anything would resort to him going overboard and causing Terry to leave again. 

“I said I was sorry. What more do you want?” Terry says, almost pleading. He sighs when Korvo continues to ignore him. “Fine, have it your way.”

The two went about their days separately. Korvo still went outside to take care of the plants, updating them with the whole Terry situation. They sort of became best friends with Korvo, probably his only friends. The neighbors probably thought he was weird for talking to flowers, but he didn’t care.

Terry spent his day at the mall, buying ice cream and clothes. It seems like this is the only thing that doesn’t drain him like Korvo does. That isn’t true. Shopping is a temporary thing, Korvo is constant and he likes that. He tries to think back to what would’ve made Korvo so mad. He doesn’t like fighting with him. He was willing to accept being only friends with Korvo… even though they do share a bed, kissed a few times and raise the replicants together, but he could look past the awkwardness. He doesn’t want to live his life by always fighting with Korvo. Suddenly, the mall doesn’t seem fun anymore. 

Terry goes home to find Korvo tending to the flowers he bought and neglected a few months back. He smiled, thinking that it was sweet of him to take care of the plants. When he got closer, he heard Korvo talking to the plant-life.

“Wha— seriously?” Terry startled Korvo. “You’d talk to them but not me?” 

Korvo stood up, as one of the flowers said, “you can come join us!”

“Shut it.” Terry points at the flower. He walks over and grabs Korvo, pulling him in the house. “What’s your deal? Why are you mad at me?”

“Are you that stupid?” Korvo snapped, snatching his arm back. 

“Clearly, I must be if you’re being such a dick for no reason!” Terry yelled.

“You really don’t remember, do you?” 

“What did I do that made you so mad?” Terry asked, throwing his arms up and feeling fed up with Korvo’s attitude.

“You kissed Bob yesterday and went to flirt with Jessica!” Korvo shouted. “There, are you happy?”

Terry tries to recall the kiss but doesn’t remember anything. He must’ve been so drunk that he blacked out. “I don’t remember.”

“What do you mean you don’t remember?” 

“I was drunk! What do you want me to say?” Terry crossed his arms, holding himself. “It was just a kiss, it didn’t mean anything.”

Didn’t mean anything, Korvo couldn’t believe this. He was getting angry again. “If it didn’t mean anything, does that mean our kiss meant nothing too?”

Terry began tapping his feet because he couldn’t believe that Korvo would insinuate that their kiss meant nothing. Of course it meant everything. He thinks that Korvo shouldn’t care in the first place. He was the one who didn’t want to kiss the night before. “Why do you care so much? You were the one who rejected me.”

“Is that what the party was all about last night?” Korvo demanded to know.

It might’ve been part of why Terry wanted to throw a party, because he was hurt, but he’s not going to tell Korvo that. "I just want to be liked by these people, is that so hard to understand? And besides, we're not even together."

He was right, but it stung hearing him say that. Korvo looked Terry in the eyes, his own pain reflecting back at him. “You’re right.” He hated this right now. “I guess we’re not.”


	11. Chapter 11

The replicants ate at the dinner table in silence with Terry and Korvo. It was quiet, too quiet. Terry usually has something to say about TV or the neighborhood. Korvo usually explains problems about the ship and what he should do to fix it. Now, neither of them are talking. It felt like being in a stranger's home. 

Jesse barely touched her food and excused herself. She goes to bed as Yumyulack follows her to their room. "Is it just me or…" 

"Terry and Korvo are ignoring each other." Jesse frowned. "I'm starting to think it's because of our mission that they're unhappy and always fighting."

"Woah, hey." Yumyulack sits beside her on her bed. "They're just going through a hard time is all, and Terry didn't run away this time."

"What if it's our fault?" She asks, tearing up and burying her face in her hands. 

"Don't cry!" Yumyulack panicked, not knowing how to make her stop crying. He grabs her shoulder and she looks up at him. "We could knife fight, if you want." 

"No!" She shook his grip off. "I want Korvo and Terry to stop fighting and just… I don't know, be honest with each other and themselves? So, we can go back to doing things as a family. I don't want to just hang out with just Terry or Korvo, I wanna hang out together and go to theme parks and water parks, like those commercials on Cartoon Network." 

Yumyulack frowns. He hates to admit it but his sister is right. They haven't been acting like a family. It felt like living with divorced parents who take turns taking the kids. He tried to think of something, anything that'll get his parents to make up. Then he remembers Parent Trap.

"I got it! We should set them up on a date with each other." He says.

Jesse smiles. "Yeah! And they'll never know it was us. So what's the plan?"

The next day, around the evening, Yumyulack slips a card through the door of the ship, that says "come downstairs, we need to talk, from Terry." Hoping that Korvo would read it, instead of ignoring it for the whole day.

Jesse steals Korvo's phone and texts Terry to "come home, we need to talk." 

Terry comes home to a candlelit dinner and seconds later Korvo shows up, from the kitchen. "Hey," Korvo says.

"Hey" Terry says. "Should we…?"

"Of course." He and korvo go to sit at the candlelight dinner table. There's already food prepared with a large bottle of wine.

Yumyulack and Jesse left the house hours before and dined at Lolo Burger. "I wonder what they're doing now?" Jesse popped a french fry in her mouth. 

"Probably having sex." Yumyulack answered.

"That'll be great. It's one step closer to actually making up with each other. And it's so romantic! I mean, why do you think they do it in movies?" She rested her head in her palm.

"I dunno, it just seems excessive to get them to just talk." He played with a french fry. "but I hope they're doing okay. I don't want Terry to leave again, you know?" 

"I'm sure it's fine Yumyulack. maybe they'll get human married just like I read on the internet! Oh, and they'll have a huge wedding!" she clasps her hands together and brings it up to her face, smiling.

"We should stay at a motel or something. I'm trying to keep my eyes from burning out of their sockets if they end up doing sex stuff." he explains.

The wine bottle shatters on the wooden floor of the dining room. The candles were blown as it filled the room with artificial lavender and the only thing that lit up the room was the light from the moon outside. Korvo leaned against the table as Terry aggressively kissed him, biting his bottom lip. They continued to make out, attempting to take it into the bedroom but Korvo tripped as they walked backwards and ended up falling on the floor behind the couch with Terry in his arms.

"Owie!" Terry yelled. He looks down at his partner who was smiling dreamily up at him. Terry chuckled while tasting Korvo's lips again, and also tasting the wine they drank earlier. 

"We should stay on the floor." Korvo suggested and slurring his words in between kisses. "It's nice and cold."

"You're nice!" Terry makes no attempts to move off of Korvo's chest. "Hey listen, I'm sorry I ran away and had a party. I was just overreacting. I thought you didn't care about me." 

"Terry, I do care." he wraps his arms around Terry's neck, holding onto him and their faces smothered together. "You're my partner. "

Terry frowned. He didn't just want to be Korvo's partner, or maybe it's the alcohol telling him he doesn't want to only be his partner. Terry began to ugly cry in Korvo's chest. 

Korvo sits up, holding Terry. "Hey, hey. It's okay."

Terry shoved Korvo off of him and stood up. "No, it's not! Just when I think you care about me as more than just partners, you go and say shit like that!" 

Korvo got up from the floor. The sudden motion made him almost vomit. "What do you mean?"

Terry sighed, hanging his head. "Nothing." He was reminded of the rule about partnership and how they can’t be more than just work buddies. It's all because Korvo can't shut up about being partners. Just this once, Terry wanted Korvo to say that they're more. 

Korvo held Terry's hand. "It's not nothing, Terry." His voice was soft in the quietness of the empty house. 

"Yes, it is." Terry's voice cracks. "I know you, Korvo. You wouldn't break the rules, not even for me." 

"What are y-" 

"I love you, Korvo." Terry was serious and he was never more serious about anything in his life. He spent so much time keeping a small distance from Korvo because of the rules about partnership but he can't keep pretending that he doesn't feel anything for him.

For the first time in Korvo's life, he felt his heart simultaneously mend and break. "You're lying." His voice cracked as tears welled up on his eyes. 

"W-"

"You love Ansel Elgort and you're using me as a rebound because he dumped you!" Korvo began to cry as his voice cracked. "How can you be so cruel, playing with my feelings like I don't mean anything. Don't you remember when you came home from Vegas? I was worried about you and the first thing you do when you come home is kiss me just to try to replace Ansel.”

Terry's eyes widened at this realization, that he hurt Korvo as much as Korvo hurt him. He was sitting on his for months, feeling insignificant because Terry made the mistake of trying to wash away Ansel Elgort with Korvo. "I'm sorry, Kor-"

"Stop saying that!" Korvo shouted.

Terry stepped closer to Korvo. He takes Korvo's hand and holds it to his cheek. "No, I mean it. I'm so sorry, I didn't know I hurt you this much, which makes us pretty even, huh?" He turned his face and kissed Korvo's palm. "We can start over." 

"The rules…" 

"Shlorp blew up, remember?" He says. "No one will know. We could start a new life, maybe Yumyulack and Jesse could have a new sibling to kick around." He blushed at the thought of having an offspring with Korvo. The replicants would be pissed. 

Korvo chuckles at the silly fantasy. Having an offspring would require some special soil and they have none here. "We're not having another kid." Korvo says. "But I do want to… make this work between us." He holds onto Terry's hand. 

Terry kissed Korvo's lips again. "Do you wanna go drink some more wine?"

"That would be great." Korvo answered. 

Terry looked through the cupboard for a spare wine bottle and some wine cups. Korvo made a bubble bath for the two of them. Once Terry came upstairs, he joined Korvo in the bath. They made out and sipped wine like a couple. 

"Man," Terry sighed while laying on Korvo's chest. "Us bathing together feels way better now that we're together. I don't have to worry about accidentally touching your junk." 

"Yeah," Korvo says, swirling the wine in the cup. "Why didn't we do this earlier?"

Terry laughed. "I don't know, but I'm glad the replicants set this up for us." 

"Me too, Terry." Korvo agreed. "Me too."


	12. Chapter 12

After their super hot bath together, the couple tried to have sex only to realize they don't know how because they don't really know stuff about sex. Korvo explained that sex between Shlorpians aren't pleasurable, and if it was, nobody would have known about it because, one, it was forbidden and, two, they're not animals who take pleasure in making a child. Reproduction was a serious thing, and getting off while trying to make an offspring was disgusting. It's like having a kink for being pregnant. 

However, the aliens wanted to have pleasurable, love making kind of sex, like the unnecessary sex scenes in movies. But they don't want to make an offspring together, at least not yet. The best way to learn about love making capabilities is to study humans who do it for fun.

Terry brings a laptop into their bed and he looks up a porn site that he overheard some teenagers talk about at the dog park. When Terry clicked on it, it flashed so much pussy and boobs. 

"Oh, wow." Korvo says, unamused and almost disgusted by human physiology. 

"Um, yeah. We should click on a video." Terry says, feeling slightly awkward about having to watch humans have sex with Korvo. He clicks on a video and they watch as a man is thrusting into a girl. The moaning from the video is loud enough to wake the neighbors. 

"Humans find this sexy?" Korvo scoffs. 

"It's all… meat and… and the sound!" Terry closes the laptop and the noise stops. He rubbed his temples, frustrated that this won't take them anywhere. 

He opens the laptop again. He can't give up. This is for research, for Korvo, for him. He sat through hours of pornography, the obnoxious moaning sounds, the shitty porno music, and even the hentai. While this happened, Korvo fell asleep holding Terry's waist. 

Waking up around 6 a.m, Korvo finds Terry still scrolling through porn on the laptop while trying to not doze off. He calls Terry but he doesn't respond. Korvo sits up and closes the laptop for him, which jolts Terry to wake up. 

"What are you doing?" He asks. 

"Closing the laptop. I take it you stayed up all night watching humans fuck." Korvo smirks. "I didn't know you had a fetish."

"Shut up, Korvo! You harass dead bodies."

"And they all love me." He says. "Did you find anything while you were investigating?" 

"No. They just smack their genitals together and something happens." Terry groans. "I knew this was stupid! I thought this could help me figure out stuff about our bodies, but clearly this information isn't useful."

"Don't sell yourself too short. Part of research is experimenting, so let's try whatever you watched." Korvo says, trying to sound encouraging.

"Okay, um… l-lay down." Korvo does what he was told. "Uh…" Terry began to blush as he was put on the spot. What if he does bad and Korvo doesn't like it? He looks down at his partner, who's waiting for him to do something. He thinks Korvo looks cute in his night dress. 

"Do humans just stare at each other until they do sex stuff?" Korvo asked, trying not to giggle at the awkwardness.

"No, I'm trying to think. Shut the fuck up." He tried to think back to what he watched from last night, but it was all so boring and gross. Until he remembers lesbians and something about fingers. "Oh, I got it!" He says, taking his hand and sliding it under the sheets.

Terry felt around until he finally touched Korvo's mound. His hand flinches, but he goes through with it anyways. He sticks a finger in it and Korvo doesn't react. "Wow, sex stuff is so fun." Korvo says in a monotonous voice. 

"Shut up. I'm trying, okay?" Terry blushed because he's failing miserably. "Don't we have anything in the ship that could help us?" 

"I think," Korvo started, only to see how his lover has bags under his eyes. "You need some sleep." He pats Terry's back. 

As much as he wanted to continue, he was too tired to focus. "Ugh, you're right. " He groans, rolling himself on his back. "Will you stay for a bit?" 

Korvo really couldn't say no to Terry's puppy dog eyes. "Very well. A few minutes wouldn't hurt."

That same day, Jessica Murphy somehow talked Korvo into a dinner party with her and her husband and Terry. Korvo left the supermarket without the gucci wine because that bitch Jessica took it while she was talking Korvo into a stupid dinner party. She was also the same chick that Terry flirted with at his house party. 

Upon arriving home, Korvo tells his partner of the dinner party though he's not really thrilled about it. "Well, do you want to go?" 

"I don't really have a choice, Terry. If I don't go, then she wins." Korvo leans on the kitchen counter, sipping a diet Dr. Pepper.

"No offense, Korv, but socializing isn't your thing and I don't think you're going to behave at the dinner party." Terry snatches Korvo's diet dr pepper and sips the sugary drink. 

"Please! If anyone's good at misbehaving, it's you." He points at his partner.

Terry smirks at Korvo, giving him bedroom eyes. He goes over to pull him by the waist. "We could… go misbehave together, in private." 

Korvo blushed, rolling his eyes and pushed him away. "Terry, we don't know how sex works." 

"We can go find out how." He whispered in a seductive tone, causing Korvo to bite his bottom lip. "Anyway, didn't you say Jessica was flirting with me during my black out party?" 

"You were flirting with her." Korvo corrected. "And, so what?" 

"I don't want to ruin my reputation here just because you can't control yourself when you're… jealous." Terry turns his head, avoiding eye contact with Korvo. 

"Wow, you don't trust me that much?" Korvo crossed his arms. 

"No, it's that you don't trust me." Terry rests his hand on Korvo's shoulder. "Look, just promise me you won't bring any sci-fi guns or do anything weird." 

"I make no such promises, but I'll try." 

Terry gives Korvo a kiss on the cheek. "Okay, I'm gonna go get ready." He says, leaving the kitchen. 

Korvo clasps his hands together, think of a plan to fuck up Jessica's day. Maybe he could poison her husband, or make her bald, or throw her body into a wood chipper. He laughs and throws the soda can into the recycle bin.

He really needs to channel his anger towards something else other than killing other humans. If anything, they deserve it. Just by existing. 

When the replicants came home from school, the adults told them about the dinner party at Jessica's house and how to warm up the tater tots. "We'll be home around 9, and if we find out that you killed each other by the time we get home, you're both grounded." Korvo says, by the doorway. 

"Yeah, we love you too." Jesse says, before closing the door. 

The couple drove to Jessica's house and she greeted them with a warming hug and a fake smile. Korvo does the same thing, handing her a bottle of shitty wine. Jessica welcomes them into her home, and they find her husband, Jared, cooking in their unnecessarily big, fancy kitchen. 

"Korvo," He goes in for a hug, which Korvo hesitantly accepted. "Terry." He says, bitterly.

They all converse about the neighborhood or whatever adults talk about. Taxes? Even though Terry and Korvo don't know what taxes are. Jessica touched her husband's lap and began bragging about their sex life. To which, Korvo lied about how great his sex life with Terry and he becomes uncomfortable and excuses himself to the bathroom. 

He leaned on the fancy, white bathroom sink and stared at himself in the mirror. Terry had to get away from all that competition because Korvo's already messing up his reputation. It makes them sound desperate, which they're not! 

Terry opens the door to find Jessica standing there with a martini in her hand. "Terry." She says, voice low and sexy. 

"Um, Jessica?" Terry says, rubbing his head because he's confused. She should be at the dinner table with Korvo and Jared. "What's- what's up?" 

"Cut the small talk, you know what I want." She steps closer to Terry. He could smell the alcohol off of her. Jeez, she's really getting drunk with guests?

"I don't-" Jessica shuts him up by forcing her tongue down his mouth. Pressing him against the door frame and placing his hand on her ass, she held onto him while violating his mouth. 

Terry pushed her off, wiping the spit off of his mouth. "What the shit are you doing?" He whisper/yelled at her. "You're married!"

"Oh, don't pretend nothing happened between us at your party." She touched his mound as Terry slapped her hand away.

"What are you talking about?" Terry asked, feeling the anger rise. 

"Don't tell me you forgot about our little moment together." She rubbed circles at his chest. "No gay man can make a girl cum so hard with just his fingers. And I wanna see if you can do that with your dick." She puckered her lips and leaned in for another kiss, but Terry held her shoulders and pushed her away. 

"Woah, okay! Jessica, I think I should go." He tries to run but she grabs his wrist, digging her long nails into his skin. "Shit! Korv-"

Jessica covered his mouth with her hand, muffling his screams. Terry bites her, making her cry in pain. He stepped her foot and ran to the kitchen. "Korvo, we gotta leave!" Terry grabs Korvo's hand and runs out the door. 

"Terry, what the fuck?" He curses as Terry drags him by the arm to their car. 

"Can't explain right now." Terry gets in the driver seat, as Jessica follows them outside. 

While Terry was driving away, he saw Jessica tailing him with her husband in the passenger seat. "I was just about to poison Jared." Korvo asked. "And why is Jessica following us?"

"Okay, don't get mad. Remember when I was blacked out drunk and I was flirting with Jessic? Apparently, I did finger stuff with her and now she's batshit crazy about me. And wants to have sex." Terry explained. 

"What!" Jessica's car bangs her car on Terry's car. "I knew it! I should've brought my guns." 

"Aw, you left them behind for me?" The car swerves again from Jessica's banging. 

"Yes, because I trust you, but because of that I ended up letting my guard down and now we're gonna get murdered by some psycho bitch!" Jessica bangs the car again.

"Hey, do you think Jared is behind all this too?" Terry asked. He looked at the rearview mirror to see that she took a different turn. "Hey, she's not following us anymore." 

"Terry!" Korvo shouted as they hit Jessica's car from the side. The air opened, saving Terry and Korvo from head butting the window. 

Jessica got out from the car, heels clicking onto the cement of the street. "You should've just banged me, Terry." She signed and Jared pulled Terry and Korvo out of the car and stuffed them into their trunks. 

When Korvo comes too, he finds himself tied up with Terry behind him and hanging upside down. "What the fuck!" He shouts. 

"What the fuck indeed." Jessica says, sitting at a pier, sipping from a flask. "If it weren't for you, Terry and I would've ran away together… with Jared. Just so you know, he likes being cuckold."

"Jessica, you bitch." Korvo cursed as the rope slipped a bit, causing them to swing back and forth. 

"Fuck you! You ruined my chance at having an orgasm, Korvo!" Jessica shouted. "Now, you're both gonna pay. Jared, drop them!"

"Shit, shit! Terry!" Korvo wiggled as they were being lowered down into the water. "Terry, wake the fuck up!" 

Terry moaned in his sleep. Korvo reversed head butt Terry to get him to wake up, which worked. "Owie!" Terry cried, shaking his head until he realizes that he's hanging upside down and tied to Korvo who's behind him. "What the fuck?" 

"Yeah, we get it!" Korvo shouted as they got closer to the water. "Terry we're gonna die here. I just wanna tell you that I've always had feelings for you." 

"Aw, Korvo. I know that." Terry says.

"Goddammit, Terry, we're gonna die! Say your goodbyes!" Korvo shut his eyes as they were dropped into the water and their mouths filled with saltwater

Korvo opened his eyes when he realized that he could breathe underwater. "Wow, I forgot we could breathe underwater." Terry says. 

"Oh shit me, too. We should probably get untied." He and Terry wiggled to get the ropes loose from their arms. Terry was free first and helped untie Korvo's arms and legs, then himself. "I think you know what we need to do, right?"

"Have sex with Jessica?" Terry shrugged.

"No! We have to kill her and her husband because clearly they shouldn't have fucked with two aliens!" 

"But murder is frowned upon." Terry says.

"So, we do it in secret." Korvo says. "They think we're dead so we could just sneak up on them when they least expect it and we hide the bodies somewhere."

Korvo swam ahead of Terry. As he was about to follow behind, he noticed a shimmer of light under the water. When he squinted to get a better look, he realized it was his ring. Terry looks between his ring and Korvo, who’s close to the shore. He swam towards Korvo, he couldn’t kill two people by himself. It was better that Terry let go of this ring, now that it means nothing because he found love in someone else who loves him back.

Jessica sat on a beach chair, drinking vodka from a flask while her cuck husband sat on the wooden pier floor. The sky was dark and naked, which was perfect for a murder. She's won, yet again. Though, she is a bit disappointed that she didn't get her orgasm, but this was close enough. 

This was just like that time she had a threesome with Miranda from across the street. Too bad she went missing, which Jessica totally didn't have anything to do with it. (She totally did.) She had a reputation to uphold. She has a "perfect" husband, who works as her personal assistant at her job at Tuesday Bank, which she's the CEO of. 

Terry and Korvo swam all the way to shore while holding the rope that Jessica tied them up with. Korvo silently pointed to Jared to signal Terry to kill him. On Korvo's mark, they both jumped the couple. Terry snapped Jared's neck as Korvo struggled to wrap the rope around Jessica's neck. 

Jessica elbowed him, knocking him down as Terry punched her in the face. "You could've told me you were into this, baby." She wiped the blood dripping from her nose. 

"Oh, my god! Stop, I'm not interested in you after you tried to kill me and my husband!" Terry shouted as Jessica tackled him down, choking him with her freakishly large hands. "K-k-kor- ko-korvo!" Terry wheezed as he tried to push the lady off of him.

Korvo came up behind Jessica and chokehold her until she passed out. Terry got up, holding his neck from Jessica's bear grip bruising him. 

"Okay, so…" Korvo started as they stared at the bodies.

"Woodchipper?" Terry suggested.

Korvo turned to Terry. "I love you." 

They dragged the bodies to the nearest woodchipper and shoved them into the machine. They watched as it turned the meat bags into meat soup. "It was self defense, Terry." Korvo says. 

When the couple came back home, they were covered in sea water and blood. They went into their room, thinking about what just happened. They almost died and killed two people. Terry knocked Korvo against the front door, smothering him in kisses. 

They made out, walking backwards onto their bed. Korvo straddled Terry while grinding his mound onto his partner's. "Holy fuck, Terry. We just murdered two people."

"Yeah, I know. I'm still shaking from that." Terry moaned under the kisses as he unzipped Korvo's robe and pulled it off of him. He gave Korvo’s ass a hard spank. 

"Ow, fuck!" Korvo shouted. "Is abuse sexy to you?"

"S-sorry! I saw it on porn and the girl is always like, 'oh, yeah! harder!'" Terry explains. 

Korvo sticks a hand down Terry's pants, grabbing onto what feels like a thick flower petal. It made Terry wince. Korvo rubbed it a bit, earning a moan from him. Before Terry could say something, Korvo kisses his partner and touches his genitals as it unfurls from his mound. 

He lets the pedals curl around his fingers as Terry begins to grow needy and wetter. "So, you did finger stuff." Korvo whispered in Terry's ear. 

"Oh, my god. Are you mad about- ah!" Korvo stuck a finger in the flower, feeling the filaments wrap around his finger. "Korvo…" He moans.

"D-does that feel good?" He flustered at his own question, not really knowing how this works. He feels his loins ache between his legs. Korvo began to panic because he thought he was dying. His insides are gonna explode and he'll die in front of his lover. "Terry, I think I'm dying." 

"What? Did Jessica hurt you?" Terry sat up, trying to inspect Korvo's body. 

"I don't know. My junk feels… achy?" 

Terry narrowed his eyes. He loves his Korvo but he can be such an idiot sometimes. He slipped his hand down Korvo's pants and grabbed his alien genitals, which just so happens to be shaped like flowers. Korvo breath hitched as Terry rubbed the petals. "Still feel like you're dying?" 

"Mm… n-no." Korvo breathed. He bit his lip as he rubbed and fingered Terry's pseudo-pussy. 

"This… feels… kinda gay." Terry sticks a finger inside of Korvo, earning a sexy moan. "It would be less gay if we… got naked and- and bump uglies." 

Korvo kissed Terry and licked his lips. Terry and Korvo stripped each other down and saw what their crotches looked like when they're sexually aroused. Terry's flower was pink while Korvo's was purple. "We should be careful." 

"Yeah, careful." Terry repeated.

They literally grow roots after a few minutes and stuck them inside of each other. Once they were close enough, the flowers stuck together and sucked the other's petals. 

"Holy fuck!" Korvo moaned, loudly. 

"How come we never… did this… before?" Terry asked, getting on top of his partner and biting Korvo's neck. Korvo touched Terry's chest as he pinned his arm above his head. 

"Terry, we… need to be careful." Korvo's breath became heavier and he felt close. 

"You want me to stop?" He kept moving as he was getting closer to release.

"No, please don't stop!" Korvo begged, which sparkled Terry's interest. He could get used to seeing Korvo being submissive.

Terry moved at a slower pace, just to watch Korvo moan and whine. "We need to be careful Korvo, remember?" He says, all low and seductively. 

Korvo's breath grew faster as he was edging. "Fuck me, Terry!" He pulls Terry's head down so they'd kiss.

It didn't take long for Terry to obey Korvo's demand to fuck him into oblivion. Terry thrusts faster as his climax is starting near. Korvo wrapped his legs around Terry's waist as he piledrives into him.

"Korvy… I'm gonna-" Terry covered Korvo's mouth as he moaned loudly. He trembled as he came onto Terry's root. Watching Korvo cum, made Terry nut too. 

Korvo unhooked his trembling legs from around Terry's waist. Terry laid on the bed next to his partner, still trying to catch his breath. He felt his junk get tucked into his mound. Terry touched Korvo's petal, making him flinch. 

"Damn, I can't believe I got knocked up like this." Terry says as he curls up to cuddle with Korvo. 

"I told you sexual reproduction isn't pleasurable. What we did is the opposite. I'm pretty sure that we're not 'knocked up'." Korvo sat up to go to the bathroom, but as he stood up his legs felt like jelly and he fell to the floor. "Seems like our session was quite the experience." 

Korvo placed his hand on the bed to push himself up onto the bed. "Looks like the universe doesn't want you to get away from me." Terry joked, planting a kiss on Korvo's cheek.

"Wasn't planning to." Korvo layed back down with Terry. "Did you mean it when you said I was your husband?" 

"Why would I lie?" Terry asked, rhetorically. "Unless you want to be my boyfriend?" 

"It doesn't matter to me, Terry. I'm happy just by being here with you like this." Korvo interlocked his fingers with Terry's.

"That's probably the sweetest thing you said to me. Well, second to the 'I love you'." Korvo blushed when he was reminded that he told Terry he loved him. But it is true, he does love him. 

Marriage doesn't seem like a bad idea.


End file.
